Emotionless
by Babykat570
Summary: You all thought that Sasuke left the village and join the Sound; but he's not... Sakura is, but not joining the Sound. Read this if you wish to find out. Saku/Sasu, Saku/Naru, or Saku/Iba Kyro . Review please & thnk u!
1. Chapter 1

******This is my third story, to those authors I know; you might be wondering why am I writing more than one story. The thing is, while I was writing/typing the other two stories, it came to me saying I should write another story but more exciting. Though if I write another story I might have difficulties of updating the others, I hope you understand. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story, I updated. **

**At the hospital, Naruto and Sasuke are both fighting on the roof; trying to see who is stronger. Sakura was there watching them fighting, she was scared that her two comrades could kill each other. Just when they charged each other with Chidori vs. Rasengan, she tried to stop them but, luckily, Kakashi was there and stopped them in time. The fact that her comrades stop fight, she's still upset that she couldn't stop them in time because her emotions keep getting in the way; if only she was strong. So… **

**Home…**

Sakura was at her balcony thinking about her teammates, about what she should have done to make them stop fighting all the time; if her emotions won't get in the way. She watched as the sun is going down and felt like going out for a stroll around the village, trying to clear out her mind for a while. So she left her room went downstairs and head straight to the front door,

"Sakura, where are you going?" her mother asked,

"I'm just going out for a walk," Sakura answered,

"Well don't be out too long, it's getting dark," her mother said as Sakura is exiting through the door,

"I won't," she said and left.

Just as Sakura left her home, she doesn't know a shadow was hidden in the alley, watching her leave. Its blue paled eyes watched her every move and then it disappeared from the alley.

**Village, 10 minutes later…**

Sakura was walking through the village, passing every stores and building trying to clear her head. Then suddenly… she sensed a strange presence nearby, she quickly turned around and saw no one behind her,

**_"I've could of sworn I sensed someone is following me"_** she thought,

**_"You're just imagining things," _Inner Sakura said,**

**_"Yeah… I guess,"_** then she went back walking.

Then the shadow appeared, and hid himself behind the dark building watching Sakura leave; then disappeared again.

**Training area, 15 minutes later…**

Sakura was looking at the training area remembering the first time that she and her team took their first test and became Genins. Those were the good times… it's too bad it can't last forever. She sighed after that… then she sensed the same presence from before and quickly turned around; but saw no one.

**_"Okay, I know I sensed someone stalking me,"_** she thought,

**_"Maybe we should head home now, it's getting late anyway,"_ Inner Sakura said,**

**_"Right,"_** so she left the training area and head back home.

**Park, 7 minutes later…**

Sakura is on her way home since it's already dark and there's a full moon tonight; she decide to take a short cut through the park. She was almost home until, 'Snap' she heard someone stepped on a twig; she quickly got her kunai knife out, turned around and threw it… and hit a shadow. She got out another kunai as she slowly walk closer to it, just when she was about to see whose her stalker, she saw… a dummy all covered in leaves.

"What the…" she responds, then…

"Don't be alarm…" she heard a voice as she looked around her,

"Who's there?" she said,

"There's no need to be hasty," the voice said,

"Show yourself you coward," she said then suddenly… she gasped when she felt paralyzed as if someone is controlling her body.

**_"A Paralysis jutsu?"_** she thought trying to move her body but had no use, then…

"I mean no harm," the voice said as Sakura grip her kunai; then she saw someone coming out of the shadows. It was a boy… around her age but older, wearing black shirt, pants, shoes and gloves… blue short hair, with pale skin and blue eyes. A young handsome boy walked towards Sakura as she stood still; couldn't move a muscle.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" Sakura said with demand then the boy stop and stood a few meters close to her face to face.

"I'm Ibate Kurasaki, a friend whose here to take you out of this village and come join us Sakura," the Ibate said then Sakura took a good look at him as she asked,

"How do you know my name?"

"We know much about you Ms. Haruno, we've been watching you for a while now," he said.

**_"We?"_ **she thought as Ibate explains,

"We figure that you will be suitable as our newest member and become like us,"

**_"What is he talking about me becoming a new member and are there others like him?"_** she thought as she looked at Ibate's paled blue eyes,** _"And his eyes, there's no emotion in him at all,"_** she thought again.

"I know much about you Sakura… about how much you hate watching people who are dear to you fighting over and over again" he said, Sakura didn't say anything as Ibate continues,

"That no matter how hard you tried, your emotions keep getting in the way; you wished to become strong, so you can no longer feel the pain inside you," he explained. Sakura slowly led her eyes down after what he said was true.

"I know how it is, everyone had that problem before," Ibate said then he released his jutsu and let Sakura have full control again. Sakura was surprise that she can feel her body again, she looked up to him,

"How did you…?" she tried to asked, then,

"That was an example of how powerful we've become if we have no emotions in us," he said.

"No emotions?" Sakura said as the wind blows and the leaves fall,

"That's right, with no emotions you will become powerful; so powerful that you will no longer feel pain inside you," he said, Sakura had her mouth open but couldn't find the words then Ibate took her kunai and held it in front of her.

"With no emotions, you can do whatever you want," he said then he gathered his chakra to make the kunai float on his hand, Sakura was amazed of what he is doing to her kunai. Then the kunai break into tiny little pieces and circulates around his hand; as it circulates, the pieces are being formed together to make the kunai… into a red rose. Sakura became more amazed that Ibate just turned her kunai into a rose; she looked at him again but became speechless,

"Come with us Sakura, leave this village along with your emotions behind; they'll just get in the way. If you keep hold of your emotions any longer…" Ibate showed her the rose but started wilting, fading and petals falling apart, "Then you'll remain weak," he said and dropped the dead rose to the ground.

Sakura shook her head trying to think for a moment then asked,

"I… I don't understand, why me?"

"All your questions will be answered by Lord Akeeba…" Ibate stick his hand out to her, "Until then, we must leave," he said. Sakura looked at him for a moment then his hand,

**_"If I have no emotions… then I'll become strong,"_ **she thought as she slowly led her hand close to his,

**_"But if I leave, I might never see my friends or my family again,"_** she thought again as she brought back her hand away from his.

**_"What should I do?"_** she thought,

**_"How am I suppose to know, I'm just your Inner thought,"_ Inner Sakura said, **

**_"Well I don't know what to choose; if I choose no emotion I might never see my friends again, but if I choose emotion then I'll never become strong," _**

**_"This is hard," _**

**_"I know,"_ **Sakura kept thinking whether to keep her emotion or not, for the cause of becoming strong or leave the village; she also doesn't understand why they chose her as a member and whose Lord Akeeba. Then suddenly…

"Sakura-chan," Ibate said her name, she looked up to him then… she gasped when she looked at his paled eyes as it got paler and made her eyes pale; she felt paralyzed again except her vision was fading then she suddenly felt tired and losing her balance.

Everything has gone black as she closed her eyes; Ibate caught her as she went unconscious, when he picked her up in bridal style, her head-protector fell off of her and dropped on the ground.

"As I said before, we must leave," he said then he started walking away, just as he took one last step, he disappeared in the darkness taking Sakura with him.

**Morning at the bridge…**

Naruto and Sasuke are at the bridge waiting for Sakura and Kakashi to show up, they're still upset about what happen yesterday back at the hospital, so neither of them said a word for a while.

**An hour later…**

"Yo" Kakashi appeared,

"You're late!" Naruto said while pointing his index finger at him,

"Sorry about that, I got myself lost in a path of life," he said,

"Liar," Naruto said. Then Kakashi noticed that he only sees Naruto and Sasuke here but not Sakura.

"Have either of you seen Sakura?" he asked them,

"I haven't seen her since yesterday," Naruto said,

"Same here," Sasuke said,

"Odd," Kakashi said. Then a Jounin appeared, "Kakashi Hatake," he said then Kakashi turned to him, "Yes"

"There's a message from the Fifth Hokage, she wish to summon you and your squad members to her office immediately," the Jounin said.

"What is it about?" Kakashi asked,

"That is something that the Fifth Hokage should inform you about," the Jounin said, Naruto and Sasuke are wondering what's going on. Kakashi turned to them,

"I'm afraid we won't be training today, the Fifth Hokage needs to see us immediately," he said to them,

"What for?" Naruto asked,

"Once we see her, she'll tell us," Kakashi said then he, Naruto and Sasuke left the bridge, and on their way to see the Hokage.

**Hokage's office…**

"Exactly, when did she disappear?" Tsunade asked Mrs. Haruno while she has tears in her eyes,

"Last night, she told me she's going out for a walk and I told her not to stay out too long; until the next thing I knew… she hasn't return home and I have no idea where she could have gone," she said while she wipe her tears falling on her cheeks.

"We'll have some Anbu Blackops to form a search for your daughter," Tsunade said then one of the Jounin came through the door,

"My Lady, I have retrieved the people you wish to speak," he said. Tsunade said to him, "Bring them in"

"Yes my Lady," the Jounin said as he bowed to her then he left the room to get them.

**Few minutes later…**

The people were gather in office, Team 7, 8, 10 and Gai are all there,

"Say, what's going on, why is everyone here?" Naruto asked Sasuke,

"Beats me," Sasuke said. Then they spotted Lee coming towards them,

"Hey Bushy-Brow, any idea why we're all here?" Naruto asked, Lee shook his head, "No one knows why we're here, my team were in a middle of training until we were called to come here…" Lee looked around, "And why isn't Sakura here? I can't find her anywhere," he asked.

"She hasn't shown up at the bridge this morning, we don't know why," Sasuke said.

Then they all heard someone coming at the door, it was the Fifth Hokage herself with her assistant, Shizune, and… Mrs. Haruno. Team 7 saw Mrs. Haruno with them and can tell that she was crying a moment ago,

**_"Hey, why is Sakura's mom doing here?"_**Naruto thought.

"You all must be wondering why I called you here, well I'll tell you but once you hear this it might concern all of you," Tsunade said getting everyone's attention, "I just received an information about…" Tsunade continues until,

"Mrs. Haruno!" they all turned to Naruto as he interrupted,

"Mrs. Haruno, what are you doing here and where is Sakura?" he asked Mrs. Haruno. Mrs. Haruno didn't say anything as she looked away; since Naruto mention about her daughter,

"As I was saying, I just received information about…" Tsunade continues until,

"Naruto, you baka! Why you did that for?" Ino yelled at Naruto after she whacked him on the head,

"I was just asking about Sakura," Naruto said while rubbing his head.

"But you should know better than to interrupt the Fifth Hokage when she speaks" Ino said,

"The thing is that I just received in…" Tsunade said until,

"You're interrupting too," Naruto said to Ino.

"You're the one who's interrupting," Ino said as they both argued.

"Will you two stop arguing, you're giving me a headache," Shikamaru said to them,

"I'm hungry," Choji said,

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked,

"I don't know how long we're going to be here," Kiba said to him.

"This is wasting my time," Shino said,

"Will you both shut-up already," Sasuke said then everyone else started talking and arguing. Tsunade started twitching her eyebrow, her vein popped out on her forehead while watching everyone not cooperating; she took a deep breath,

**_"Seems like I have no choice but to cut to the chase,"_** she thought then finally…

"I JUST RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT SAKURA HARUNO GONE MISSING LAST NIGHT!"

Then everyone stopped arguing after what she just said. Most of them became silent though others…

"Say what!" Naruto said,

"My youthful flower is missing?" Lee said,

"No way!" Tenten said,

"W-what happened to her?" Hinata said.

"There was a file report about Sakura's disappearance that there was no trace of where she could be. So I figure if all of you have seen her or at least know where she is," Tsunade explained, as Mrs. Haruno stood silent.

"I haven't seen her because I was busy helping my mom in the flower store," Ino said,

"I was at a mission with my dad," Shikamaru said,

"I was… at home, watching over m-my sister," Hinata said.

"I was at the buffet," Choji said,

"Me and Arkamaru were busy training with Shino in the forest," Kiba said,

"My team and I were at a mission," Gai said.

"We were out-Oof!" Kurenai just elbowed Asuma to the side of his stomach, "Out… helping Anko with her errands," Asuma lied while rubbing his stomach where Kurenai elbowed him. "Idiot," Kurenai said while folding her arms.

Then they all turned to Team 7, since they all know Sakura is their teammate,

"Have either of you guys seen her?" Tsunade asked them,

"We haven't seen her since yesterday when…" Kakashi said then looked at his other two comrades as they stood silent, remembering their fight back in the hospital. He looked back at Tsunade, "When they got back from their mission," he said.

Mrs. Haruno looked away again as if she was about to cry because her daughter is missing and no one knows where she is. "I already called out the Anbu's to form a search party, so I want all of you to use your time to find any information about Sakura's disappearance, is that clear," Tsunade said then everyone nodded, "Good, you're all dismissed" she said then she and Shizune left the room; as Mrs. Haruno stood behind.

"How could she disappear?" Ino asked,

"S-something… must of h-happen to her," Hinata said,

"What if she's been abducted," Lee said then Gai said to them,

"Now-now everyone let's not get ahead of ourselves, we get the fact that Sakura's missing but standing around here talking about it won't do any good."

"He's right, we need to help search the village for her," Asuma said,

"So we need to separate and gather any information we can find," Kurenai said as everyone nodded. Then a moment later, Team 8, 10 and Gai left the room to start the search, Team 7 were about to head off until Naruto turned to Mrs. Haruno.

Mrs. Haruno hasn't said a word after informing the Fifth Hokage about her missing daughter, she stood silent as a tear fell from her eye.

"Not to worry Mrs. Haruno…" she turned to Naruto, "We'll find Sakura just you wait," he said trying to cheer her up then he, Sasuke and Kakashi left the room. Mrs. Haruno was left alone after everyone was gone; she held her hands and prayed,

**_"Please find my daughter… where could she possibly be?"_**she thought deeply.

**Deep forest away from the village…**

"Mm…hn….ehh…urgh…" Sakura moaning as she's trying to open her eyes then she heard voices,

_"She's waking up,"_ a voice from a little girl,

_"Should we give it to her now,"_ a voice from teenage boy,

_"No, not yet,"_ Ibate said. Sakura opened her eyes and found herself in a forest, lying under a big tree surrounded by six people.

When she sat up from a bunch of leaves between big roots, she looked around her, and saw two girls and three boys all wearing black. Except one of the girls is a teenager and the other is a little eight-year-old; as one of the boys is a teenager, and the other two are twins around her age. They all looked at her with their paled eyes and have paled skin like Ibate,

"Whe…where am I?" she asked,

"You're in the forest, close enough to leave the Land of Fire," Ibate said as stood next to her,

"Leave…?" Sakura said to herself trying to remember what happen. Then she snapped… "Wait a minute!" she turned to Ibate, "You used a jutsu on me and took me away did you?" she asked as she became upset.

"You weren't making your decision, so I chose it for you," Ibate said,

"By kidnapping me and took me away from my home, that's no way of making a decision," Sakura said.

"As long as you're with us, we'll take you to your new home where Lord Akeeba is," Ibate explained,

"No way, I'm not going anywhere with you people…" she was about to get up, "You can't just… Gah!" her legs suddenly collapsed back to the ground.

**_"Wha…what just happen, why can't I feel my legs?"_** she thought as she trembles a bit,

"You misunderstood…" Sakura turned to the little girl who has purple short hair in two pigtails and paled purple eyes wearing a black dress and gloves.

"We're only here to help you," she said, Sakura didn't say anything while she looked at her and then she spotted a doll the little girl was hold; except the doll look exactly like… her. Sakura became shocked that the little girl has a voodoo doll of her and she holding the doll's legs, that's why she can't control her legs.

"After what you've gone through you haven't met the other members," Ibate explained, "The little one over there is Uki Moroku, she's more into playing with her dolls but mostly her voodoo dolls," he said,

"Hello," Uki said. Then Sakura turned to the teenage girl whose also wearing a black dress and gloves but has gold long curly hair and paled gold eyes. "Then there's Kilala Luka, you might be aware that she's blind but can predict the future," Ibate explained,

"I may not know what you look like but I believe you'll be suitable as our new member; or as for me and Uki, our new sister," Kilala said.

"Hold on a minute, I did not agree of joining you people," Sakura said,

"You have no other choice…" she turned to the teenage boy with brown long hair and paled brown eyes; and he is the tallest in the group. He stood next to her,

"We've already spoke with Lord Akeeba and he agrees that you will be included as our newest member," he said.

"This is Dujobe Abagushi, he's the oldest in the group and a halfa," Ibate explained,

"A halfa?" Sakura asked,

"Let's say… he's not just human," Ibate said. Sakura looked at Dujobe again and notice some scars on his neck, shoulders and arms,**_ "What have they been through?"_** she thought.

"Besides, there's no point of going back where all of your emotions get in the way," one of the twins said, who has dark-green short hair and paled green eyes,

"But once you meet Lord Akeeba, he'll help you become strong and be one of us," the other twin said, who has gray short hair and paled gray eyes.

Sakura turned to them as Ibate explain, "They're the Zukato brothers, Myazo and Fuzca; Myazo can comprehend against heat and the control of ice, as Fuzca is fund with his arachnids and sometime shows some inhabitants with them." Sakura began to tremble a bit and asked, "Did you say…arachnids?" and then see felt something crawling on her legs; she quickly looked at her legs and found… some Tarantulas crawling on her skin. Then…

"Aaaaahhhh!" she screamed as she hates spiders, then started brushing them off of her, but more of them kept coming, "Get them off! Get them off! Get them off! Get them off!" she said as she kept brushing the spiders off of her.

Then Ibate backed away from her as they all stood, watching her being crawled by one of Fuzca's spiders, "Now's the time for all of us to leave," Ibate said. While Sakura was fighting off the spiders, she turned to him, "No wait, I still don't understand why you chose me, and whose Lord Akeeba?" she asked.

"As I once told you from before, all your questions will be answered by Lord Akeeba; but for now we must keep going," Ibate said,

"N-no… I won't," Sakura said as more spiders keeps on coming. Then Ibate turned Fuzca and said, "Now you give it to her,"

"Right," Fuzca said as he turned to his spiders, his eyes turned paler and started communicating his spider friends,** _"Commence… Fifteen Bites,"_** he said to them; and then… some of the spiders started biting her. She screamed in pain as three of each spiders bit both of her shoulders, along with her knees and at her front abdomen. The spiders were biting very hard not only cause her to scream but also make her body numb.

Until then, Sakura collapsed back down to the leaves after she was bitten; and more spiders are crawling all over her. **_"I-I can't move,"_** she thought then Fuzca explained to her, "I told my spiders to commence '15 Bites' on you, so in case you're thinking of escaping/ running away, their bites will go straight to your nerve system of each muscles in your body; causing you to lose feelings or, at some cases, make you become paralyze." After that, Sakura just found out that the spiders are starting putting webs on her; that they're going to form a cocoon on her. She wanted to struggle free but she can't feel her body and the spiders are wrapping her up very quickly.

"There's no reason to keep your emotions," Ibate said,

"They always get in the way," Uki said,

"Lord Akeeba will help you like he helped us," Kilala said,

"He'll take away your emotions so you too can become strong," Dujobe said,

"And become one of us," the Zukato brothers said at the same time. As they all watched as the spiders are completing their cocoon on her, Sakura couldn't speak because the tarantulas covered her mouth with their webs. Sakura looked at them as they surrounded her,

"You have no other choice Sakura-chan," Ibate said as the spiders are covering up her face, "No choice at all," he said then at that time, Sakura complete covered in webs as she's trapped inside the cocoon filled with darkness.

**To be continued…**

**I hope you liked it, to those I know and to those I don't know; I'll be working on updating the other chapter. So by the time, please review to me about this, I really liked that a lot. Until then… Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

******I'm glad to some of you who read my third story liked it, even though I was busy trying to update the other stories, I wouldn't forget this one; since it's new. Any way, I was able to update this chapter; I hope you enjoy.**

**Sakura discovered she's being kidnapped by some young, emotionless group, they want her to join them and they're taking her to meet Lord Akeeba. She has no idea why they want her nor know whose Lord Akeeba. Meanwhile, Team 7, 8, 10 and Gai found out Sakura's missing as they started searching for her. They searched the entire village but couldn't find any clues of her disappearance, when… **

**Village… **

Team 7 searched every area and throughout the other side of the village, but found nothing that has something to do with Sakura's disappearance. So Kakashi decided to use a different way to find her; he cut his thumb for blood, made a few hand signs and gathered his chakra as he placed his hand on the ground,

"Summoning jutsu," he said.

**_Poof! _**

He summoned his hounds and ordered them to split apart and smell out anything that could lead to Sakura. The hounds did as he told them as they quickly split apart and went to separate areas of the village. Then Kakashi turned to Naruto and Sasuke as they both arrived,

"We searched everywhere and couldn't find anything," Sasuke said,

"And she's nowhere to be found," Naruto said all worried and everything.

"I already send out some hounds to track her down, in the meantime, there has to be a reason why she disappeared," Kakashi said,

"What if she's hiding in some secret hideout place, o-or she fell into a very deep hole and couldn't get out, 'he gasped' Or what if she's been kidnapped and was taken out of the village by some gang member," Naruto guesses,

"… Secret hideout, doubt; deep hole, probably; but kidnapped, that's absurd," Sasuke said.

"Then what do you think happened to her teme?" Naruto asked as he glared at him,

"How am I supposed to know, I always told her to leave me alone," Sasuke said as he has his hands in his pockets.

"Well she couldn't possibly runaway…" Naruto turned to Kakashi, "Could she?" he asked as he's now worried, "Now what makes you think that?" Kakashi asked in an ironic tone.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him,

"Well… I don't know, maybe because of…" Naruto try to explained, until Kakashi interrupted him, "Because of what happen yesterday, about what you two did?" Kakashi said as if he was about to yell at him. Naruto and Sasuke became silent as Kakashi continues, "All you two ever care about is fighting, to know whose better than the other, she was very upset the fact that you two can't cooperate," he had his arms folded. "So what's the point of finding her if both of you keep on competing with each other?" he said as they still kept quiet, "If something ever happens to her, there's no one to blame but yourselves," he said. Naruto and Sasuke looked away from him as he glared at them for a moment and then…

**_"Hooowwl!"_** they all heard one of the hounds howled as they found something. They quickly left the area to find one of the hounds who howled.

**Few minutes later, at the park… **

They arrived at the park and found Pakkun as he found something; he was sniffing around the head-protector on the ground. "Is that hers Pakkun?" Kakashi asked, "It's hers alright, I recognized the same shampoo we both used," Pakkun said. Naruto and Sasuke made a sweat drop after what he said, when Kakashi picked up the head-protector Pakkun explained, "That little pink-haired girl was here last night, except she wasn't alone… while I was sniffing around the area, I smelled her scent along with someone else."

"So there's someone with her?" Kakashi asked,

"Sure is, but when I smelt his chakra I found out he's not from this village… but from some gang," Pakkun explained, then Naruto snapped, "I knew it! Some thug kidnapped Sakura!" he said.

"Seems like it, she was taken last night; that they left over 12 hours ago," Pakkun said, Kakashi turned to Naruto and Sasuke, "We better report this to the Hokage immediately," he said, they all agreed and quickly left the park.

**Faraway, upon the Mountains… **

A figure standing over the edge, looking at the forest, towns, village and other mountains from above; it was a man wearing a long black cape and a hat. He stood with his arms folded and the wind was blowing… for he's waiting for someone.

Then two men appeared as they kneeled and bowed before him from behind,

"My Lord, we received a report from one of the squad members that they're on their way back," one of the men said; who has paled skin, with light-brown short hair and paled brown eyes.

"And the girl?" their Lord asked,

"They're bringing her here, just as you order them to," the other man said; who also has paled skin, with red-orange short hair and paled red-orange eyes. Their Lord became silent for a moment… then ordered to his servants, "Good, now leave me,"

"Yes, Lord Akeeba," they both said at the same time then disappeared, leaving him alone again.

After they left, Akeeba smiled evilly and giggled a bit, "Just like according to plan," he said to himself then as the wind blows… he vanished.

**Village… **

"She's been kidnapped?" Tsunade said,

"We don't know who or why, but we know that he's in some group and he took her out of the village," Kakashi explained. Tsunade took a moment to think… and said, "I want you to arrange a rescue squad, retrieve Sakura and arrest those group," she said to Kakashi, he bowed, "Yes my Lady," he said and left the office.

**Few hours later… **

Kakashi had formed a rescue squad, Kiba and Arkamaru, Shino, Neji, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Choji, Sasuke and Naruto. They all made it to the front gate as they're about to start their mission, 'Sakura Retrieval,'

"I'm leaving this mission to all of you, do as much as you can to complete this mission," Kakashi said to them.

"But what about you sensei?" Naruto asked,

"I'll be joining the other Jounins to search the other side of the forest, to see if there are other groups, by then, I want all of you to keep your guard up and don't hold back, understood?" Kakashi said. They all nodded, "Good, I'm off now… good luck to all of you and be careful," Kakashi said and then left them.

As for the boys, they're about head out, Kiba and Arkamaru are leading the way; since they smell out trails of chakra, they'll smell out Sakura. They all left they gate as they began jumping through the forest tree by tree.

**Meanwhile, at the forest… **

The children are jumping through the forest, tree to tree; Ibate's leading them while Kilala carried Uki on her back, as the Myazo and Fuzca are jumping behind Dujobe while he's carrying the cocoon on his back.

"Listen, there's a town up ahead, we'll rest there for awhile then we'll continue our way," Ibate said to them then he turned to Dujobe as he's carrying the cocoon,** _"And making sure that she won't escape,"_** he thought as he turned and continue leading the way.

**Inside the cocoon… **

Sakura is all tied up in webs and small spiders are crawling all over her body,

**_"Now how am I suppose to get out of this sticky-situation?"_** she thought as she try to struggle; she barely got some feelings back but it's no use since she's trapped inside the cocoon. Sakura moan as she thought,** _"I wonder if Naruto and the others are coming for me?"_**

**At the area throughout the forest… **

Naruto, Sasuke and the others stopped at a big tree, Kiba and Arkamaru are sniffing around the area, "This is where the trail of her chakra ends, but the thug who took her still leads his," Kiba explained,

"Bark!" Arkamaru barked.

Neji and Lee walked around the area and found some footprints and leaves lying on the ground. "He wasn't alone…" Neji activated his Byakugan and looked at the different sizes of each footprint, "There were five more people here and most of them are around our age," he explained. Lee picked up some leaves and analyzed them, "From the looks of these leaves, they left this area over 2 hours ago…" he looked and saw some trails leaves led through the forest, "They all headed north," Lee explained.

"North huh," Shikamaru said,

"Isn't there suppose to be a town up north, could they be heading over there?" Choji asked.

"Then what are waiting for, let's go," Naruto said for he needs to find them and quick… Sakura might be in danger. So they all quickly left the area and went up north, heading towards the town.

**Few minutes later in the town… **

Dujobe, Kilala, Uki, Myazo and Fuzca are through the town, Dujobe is leading them as they pass every buildings and stores. "If only Ibate come with us," Uki said while holding her old doll and holding Kilala's hand, "I know but he's been ordered by Lord Akeeba to keep an eye on our new member," Kilala said. "And let's not forget…" Myazo said, "He is, indeed, Lord Akeeba's right hand man," Fuzca said,

"Here we are," Dujobe said as they stood in front of a huge restaurant.

**Restaurant…**

A bunch of grown-ups are eating and drinking, as some are playing pool and card games. They were enjoying themselves, until they saw some children entering, they all turned and saw five children, three boys and two girls all wearing black. Some of them whispered,

"Who invited these brats?" one of the men said,

"Look at those hideous outfits," one of the waitress said to the other,

"There not suppose to be here," the other men said.

A group of three men walked up to them,

"What are you brats doing here, there's no children allowed in here," one of them said,

"We're just here to have some lunch," Dujobe said then… the whole people in the restaurant started to laugh at them. "There's no place for children like you to eat around here," the other man said, "Yeah, you're not capable of being around with grown-up, so why don't you and those little pest of yours take it somewhere else and scram," the last man said as everyone is still laughing at them. Then Dujobe said,

"That's some talk for someone who has no life…" the third man stopped laughing then Dujobe turned to the second man, "For someone who has problems drinking…" he stopped giggling. Then Dujobe turned to the first man, "And for someone who lost his fiancé to his younger brother," he was no longer smiling as the three of them became angry. The first man grabbed Dujobe's collar and pulled him near his face, "You got a lot of nerve you little punk, now you're gonna to get it," he yelled at his face as he and his men are about to beat him to a pulp.

Kilala, Uki, Myazo and Fuzca took some steps back, for they know what's going to happen when it come with Dujobe in a middle of a fight. The men are about to beat him, until… Dujobe's paled brown eyes became paler, his pupil became thinner, and his fingernails grew in both his gloves.

He used his left hand to slap the man's hand to let go of his collar then he used his right claw and scratched his front very hard. Then he jumped in mid-air and kicked him with a hard side-thrust at his front. He made the man flew to the opposite direction; he hit some chairs, and then hit the wall behind him. After Dujobe land on his feet, he saw the other two men are charging him in both directions, so he quickly jumped and flipped backwards as the man almost ran into each other. He land on both of their shoulders, grabbed both their collars with his claws, he flipped forward back on the floor as he pulled them over his head and threw them to the pool table.

After that, the other men got off their seats and some got their weapons out as they're all targeting Dujobe; they're about to take him down at once. That is, until Dujobe inhaled throughout his lungs, along with his energy, and then…

**"_RRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!_"** everyone, except for the other four, hesitated as they heard a vicious roar… it sounded as if it came from a vicious animal/monster; some glasses were broken as windows were cracking. They all became silent as if fear has walked into their restaurant, Dujobe stood still as he looked up to the men, he held his right claw in front of him, "Anyone else?" he asked after he cracked every bone in his fingers. Then at that moment…

"WHAT WITH THIS KID!"

"HE'S A MONSTER!"

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

The men were screaming as they all ran out of the door, they all left the restaurant, and left only the waitresses and some cooks. Dujobe paled eyes form back to its original stage and his fingernails shrunk back down to his normal size in his gloves as he looked at the empty seats of every table.

"I found us some seats," Dujobe said to the others then they all walked up to one of the empty tables and took a seat. One of the waitresses quickly walked up to them, still freaked out about what just happen, but gave them an innocent smile, "Menus?" she said as she gave each of them their menus. They all looked at the menus to know what they want to order,

"I wonder what kind of desserts they're serving," Uki said to her dolly as they looked at the list of desserts.

**Rooftop of the building…**

Ibate is standing near the edge as he looked at the other building and some people walking by. "I sensed Dujobe just got into another fight again…" he sighed then he turned and started walking away from the edge, "Well, that's what those people get once they messed with him," he said. Then he stopped walking as he stood in front of the cocoon as some spiders attached it with more webs to the wall, Ibate placed his hand on the cocoon as he felt Sakura struggling inside. "As for you Ms. Haruno, I like to have a word with you," he said as his paled blue eyes became paler.

**Town…**

Naruto and the others made it to the town, but the problem they're having is the fact there are so many people here, and not sure if they could every find them.

"They got to be here somewhere," Naruto said,

"The scent of their chakras are all covered up, we can't smell them out," Kiba said,

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked.

"Seems like we have no choice but to do the old fashion way, we gonna have to split up," Sasuke said, "Agreed, Lee and I will take the north side of the town," Neji said. "Me and Choji will take the east," Shikamaru said, "We'll take west," Shino said as he stood next to Kiba, "Which leaves us to south," Sasuke said as Naruto stood next to him. "Alright, let's go," Naruto said then they all split up and started searching around the town.

**Sakura's mind… **

Sakura found herself at a waterfall area throughout the forest; she stood near a river as she watched it flows, **_"Where am I?"_** she asked herself. Then she heard a familiar voice,** _"You're inside your mind,"_** she turned and looked up at the waterfall, and saw… Ibate standing at the edge of the waterfall, his hands are in his pockets as he looked down at her.

**_"Not you again,"_** Sakura said as she glare at him,** _"There's no need to be contempt, I'm just here so we can talk,"_** Ibate said.** _"Apparently, you're the last person I wanted to talk to,"_** Sakura said as she pulled out her kunai, then Ibate started walking forward; except that parts of the waterfall begins levitate and form some stairs. Ibate is walking down from the edge and head towards Sakura, Sakura got to her fighting stance as he got closer to her; just as he was finally on the ground and the stairs from the waterfall was back into its original form, with no hesitation, Sakura threw her kunai at him…

**_Stab! _**

She got him, but at that moment… Sakura gasped and stood frozen as she watched Ibate still standing, when she threw her kunai, it hit him right to his heart; yet, he didn't respond to the pain at all nor show an agony after that. He looked down and saw the kunai pieced in his heart, he slowly lifted his right hand and grabbed hold of the kunai then he plunged it out of him. Sakura became speechless as she saw what just happened,** _"He didn't even bother dodging it,"_** she thought deeply. Ibate looked up to her again while holding the kunai,** _"Wha…what is he…?"_** she thought as she began to tremble in fear.

Then Ibate started walking up to her, Sakura saw him coming again as she quickly turn and try to run away from him; except as she turned, Ibate appeared in front of her. He looked at her with his blue paled eyes, still showing no emotion, Sakura couldn't move her body as she trembles even more,**_ "What should I do…? What should I do…?"_**she thought deeply as she felt her tongue all tied up.

**_"Like I said from before, I'm just here so we can talk,"_** Ibate said to her, Sakura couldn't say a word as she just look as his eyes… then she slowly led her eyes down and looked at the hole of his shirt, where she threw her kunai. She examined it and saw that there's no cut or any wounds on him anywhere; not even a drop of blood.** _"I see you witnessed another example of what it's like of having no emotions,"_** Ibate said then Sakura looked up to him again while he continues. **_"There are many things you can do, such as how I got inside your mind…"_** then he placed his left hand at his chest where the kunai stabbed his heart,_ **"And how I can't feel any pain from your weapon,"**_ he explained.

**_"But how…? How could you…?"_** Sakura try to speak until Ibate cut her off,

**_"It's because of Lord Akeeba. Because of him, he helped us become strong so we can no longer be weak and our emotions will no longer be in us,"_** he said then he led the kunai in front of Sakura from before,

**_"I can tell that even you don't want to be weak anymore…"_** he made the kunai levitate on his hand again,

**_"You don't want your emotions getting in the way…"_** then the kunai broke into tiny pieces and circulate around his hand again, Sakura watched it.

**_"You wanted to become strong,"_** Ibate said then the circulation of the pieces suddenly flows out of his hand and begin circulating around Sakura.

Sakura became stun as the pieces circulate around her then she notice some changes on her outfit… when the pieces disappeared, Sakura saw herself wearing the same outfit like Uki's and Kilala's; except her's different, she has a black strapless top, black long gloves, a long red skirt and black bow on her hair shaped like a butterfly. Then she found out that she was no longer at the waterfall area throughout the forest anymore, that she's somewhere in some garden. She sees flowers everywhere, fountains and statues near a lake, and a huge white mansion about five times bigger than the originals. Sakura became surprise because she never seen anything like this before,

**_"Shall we?"_** Sakura turned to Ibate as he stuck his hand out to her, like before; Sakura looked at him then at his hand, then back at him,** _"I'm still not sure, but what other choice do I have?"_** She thought then… she slowly led her hand towards his… led it back a bit… and then she went back on going towards his hand. Until then… she finally held his hand then he started leading her out of the garden and head towards the mansion.

**East side of town… **

Shikamaru and Choji looked through every stores and asked people if they seen a pink-haired girl around their age but with some group; but no one have ever seen her in any groups at all.

"This is such a drag, we've searched everywhere and asked a lot of people but there's no information of those thugs anywhere," Shikamaru said as he and Choji stood near a store. "Maybe we're not looking at the right place, maybe they're in some kind of store or building…" then Choji spotted a huge restaurant… when there's a restaurant, there's food! "Or they could be in this restaurant!" he said with joy then he quickly ran up to it, Shikamaru sighed as he started following him, **_"That Choji, always thinking about food in a time like this… but I guess it's worth a shot,"_** he thought as he followed his friend to the restaurant.

**Restaurant… **

Dujobe ate five bowls of roast-beef soup and six plates of ribs, pork-chops and roast-turkey; he's eating his seventh plate. Myazo ate three bowls of cold chicken soup; he's eating his fourth bowl. His twin, Fuzca ate seven plates of raw steak; he's eating his eighth plate. Kilala ate a veggie burger and three bowls of warm tomato soup; she's eating her fourth bowl. Lastly, Uki ate two plates of cakes, three plates of brownies and five chocolate-chip cookies; she's eating her first or second bowl of ice-cream.

"Look how they kept eating," one of the cooks whispered to the other,

"Aren't they even full yet?" one of them asked,

"They're about to eat the entire food supply," the other said as they kept watching them eat. Then they heard someone came in the restaurant, they all turned and saw two young boys; one looks hungry for some food and the other looks like he doesn't want to be here.

**_"This place sure is empty… I assume there would be some men around here but right now there's nobody here…"_**Shikamaru notice how empty this restaurant is, until then he spotted group of kids eating at a table,** _"Beside those guys, something must of happened here,"_** he thought as he and Choji walked up to one of the waitresses.

"May I help you with something?" she asked, Shikamaru was about to say something until Choji cut him off, "Do you have any Bar-B-Q chicken, or some roast steak, or maybe any honey-mustard beef-turkey?" he asked.

"Well…" the waitress was about to answer until Shikamaru cut her off,

"Sorry Choji, now's not the time to eat, we're still on a mission remember," Shikamaru said to him.

"Right… sorry," Choji said then they both turned to the waitress,

"We're looking for a friend, who lives in our village; she turned out missing last night somewhere at the park…" Shikamaru started explaining. Dujobe, Myazo, Fuzca, Kilala and Uki stopped eating after what they just heard, Shikamaru continued, "Apparently, we found out she was kidnapped by some gang… or thugs as we speak…" they all led their eyes at Shikamaru and Choji as they can tell they're from the Leaf village.

"She has short pink hair, green eyes, around our age, have you by any chance seen her or some thugs she's with?" Shikamaru asked. The waitress shook her head, "I'm afraid not, no one has," answered, Shikamaru sighed and said, "Thanks for your help," Shikamaru said.

"Let's go Choji," Shikamaru started walking, "Are you sure we can't stay for a bite," Choji asked, "No Choji, we still need to keep looking for Sakura," Shikamaru said, Choji whimpered as they both left the restaurant. Dujobe and the others watched them leave as they turned to each other for a moment, then… they dropped their food, quickly left the table and ran out of the restaurant,

"What, no tip," one of the waitress said after they left.

**To be continued…**

**I know it's long but I hope you enjoyed it, I would like it if you review to me about it. I'll try updating the other chapters of the other two stories, since the third is new. Again please review to me about it while I'll try updating the other chapter of it, thank you and good night.**


	3. Chapter 3

**********Thank you all for waiting for this chapter, though I was busy with the others and the multi-tasking hardly works for me. So enough with the small talk, since I know what you're all been waiting for; so here it is!**

**Since Naruto and the others are out to retrieve Sakura, they found out she's in a group and they're somewhere in a town. As for Sakura, she's still in a middle of whether or not she'll keeps her emotions, so Ibate went inside her mind so he can show her how it is without emotions. Naruto and the others had better find them before it's too… **

**Sakura's mind… **

Ibate led Sakura inside the mansion; they are both in a huge empty ballroom, **_"Why are we here?"_** Sakura asked. **_"I find this a perfect place where we can talk,"_** Ibate said then he snapped his finger, and then… some music appeared out of nowhere are playing all around them. Sakura became surprise that some strange people are playing music instruments… and they have the same eyes as Ibate.

Then Ibate pulled her close to him as they both faced each other, Sakura blushed a little as she glance at his handsome face. Ibate had his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him; Sakura blushed even more because she never got near to a boy like this before. **_"Now…"_** Ibate said as he started moving his feet, so did Sakura; as the music is playing, they both dance around the ballroom.

**South side of town…**

Naruto and Sasuke gone through every building and stores, and asked a lot of people but they have no clue of where the thugs are or where Sakura is.

"This isn't helping, we looked everywhere," Sasuke said,

"Well we can't give up now, they have got to be somewhere in this town; we still need to find Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he became worried than ever.

**_"Who knows what could have happen to her," _**he thought deeply and imagine all the torture Sakura's in, not sure if they'll ever find in her in time. So he ran through town yelling her name,

"Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke saw him left, so he ran after him through the town.

**Sakura's mind…**

As they're dancing, **_"There are many things you should understand about us Ms. Haruno, many ways of having no emotions in us,"_** Ibate said then he twirled her around and back to him again. **_"First, we make a choice whether we be ourselves or become different, or, in other case, let him decide,"_** Ibate said,

**_"You mean, Lord Akeeba?"_** Sakura asked as they dance around the ballroom. **_"That's right, only he helped us get rid of every emotions we don't need, such as... fear," _**Ibate said then Sakura found herself longer in the ballroom… but at a cliff in the center towards her death, she looked down and saw sharp rocks below them. She gasped and held onto Ibate, then he said,**_"… hatred," _**then everything change as they were no longer at the cliff, but somewhere in a foggy forest. Then they both spotted two ninjas fighting, they both show anger and they are fighting to the death. One of them fell on the ground as the other pulled out his spear and thrust it at his heart; blood was everywhere as the ninja showed hatred and murder in his eyes.

Sakura couldn't bare to watch that much kill as she tighten Ibate's shirt, buried her face in it, and quivers. Then Ibate said, **_"…and sadness,"_** then the image changed again as they are no longer in the forest but in a home, they're both in a bedroom as they turned to a child crying next to a man in bed. Sakura looked at the little eight-year-old boy as he's crying in sadness because he just lost his father; she suddenly became sad and felt sorry for the little boy. Then Sakura took a good look at that little boy… that he has black eyes and hair, and he's full of tears. Just as Sakura look at him, she turned to Ibate for a moment then back at the little boy… that's when she figured it out.

**_"Ibate, was that you… you lost your father when you were young?"_** she asked him as he stood silent for a moment, he turned to her and finally said, **_"…I don't have a father."_** Sakura stuttered after what she just heard and then the image changed again that they're back in the ballroom again.

**_"Having emotions only get in the way, it won't help you become strong nor help you survive,"_** Ibate explained, Sakura moved away from him, **_"How could you possibly know? So my emotions get in the way but it doesn't make me weak all the time," _**she said to him with disbelief. **_"Is it? Because from my point of view, you couldn't stop your friends when they almost killed each other," _**he said, **_"W-well… I could have stopped them but…" _**she tried to explained until Ibate cut her off. **_"Your emotions got in the way, if your sensei never stopped your comrades at that time, surely they would have killed each other… or at least, they could have killed you," _**he said.

Sakura became stun after what he just said that he was right, if Kakashi never stopped Naruto and Sasuke back in the hospital she would have gotten herself killed; she slowly look down. Then Ibate got closer to her again then used his hand to left up her chin up to him,

**_"But that's all behind you now Ms. Haruno, as soon as we take you to Lord Akeeba you'll never get to see them again,"_** he said as his lips closing in on hers; Sakura blushed even more that he's about to kiss her. She gasped as she quickly pulled away from him…

**_Slap!_**

She slapped him crossed his face; Ibate didn't became shock nor show any response after she slapped him.

Sakura try to get away from him until he grab her wrist and pulled her back to him, into an embrace. Sakura struggle trying to push him away from him but he held her tight and began whispering in her ear. **_"You won't be alone Sakura… you'll be with us,"_** Sakura stopped struggling at that moment as he continues, **_"Come with us and leave your emotions behind, only then you'll become strong without them,"_** he whispered. Sakura didn't say anything as he kept whispering, **_"Let us take you to Lord Akeeba, let him take away your emotions and become one of us." _**Then they slowly face each other again, Sakura glance at his paled blue eyes and became silent, **_"In that rate, you'll never become weak ever again,"_** he said to her.

Then Ibate plant a kiss on her forehead as he held her waist closer to him, Sakura blushed again as she placed her hands on his chest. **_"I…"_**she couldn't speak as she look down again, Ibate used his hand and left her chin up to him again, **_"Forget your emotions… forget your friends… become one of us so you can no longer be weak,"_** he said to her as his lips is closing in on hers again. **_"I…" _**Sakura try to say something but couldn't find the words, their lips are about to touch… until…

**_"SAKURA-CHAN!"_** a voice said from the outside world interrupted.

**Inside the cocoon…**

Sakura immediately opened her eyes after she just heard that voice, _"Sakura-chan!"_ she heard it again as she recognized it, **_"N…Naruto!" _**she thought.

**Outside…**

Ibate quickly turned and ran up to the edge of the building, he look down as he heard it from down there.

"Sakura-chan!" he heard that voice as he spotted a blond boy wearing orange clothes and a black-haired boys wearing a blue shirt. As he looked close to them, they're both from the Leaf village,

"Sakura-chan, where are you! Sakura-chan!" the blond boy yelled.

**Inside the cocoon… **

**_"Naruto,"_** Sakura thought, as she regained some feeling back, she began to struggle again. She was almost loose but not all the way, more spiders kept crawling on her but she can't give up now.

**Outside…**

Ibate noticed Sakura struggling inside the cocoon, **_"Seems like now is the best time for us to leave this town,"_** he thought as he ran up to the cocoon. He grabbed it and started carrying it, "I'm afraid we have to take our talk somewhere else Ms. Haruno," he said to her while she's struggling inside the cocoon.

Ibate jumped down from the roof to the other building then flipped backwards and land on the ground at in alley. He held onto the cocoon as he hid himself behind the wall, so those two Leaf ninjas won't find them.

**Naruto and Sasuke…**

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto kept calling her name, Sasuke stopped him, "That won't help at all Naruto, save it," he said to him. "We have to find her before it's too late, who knows what kind of danger she might be in," Naruto said to him,

"You have no idea," Ibate whispered while hiding in the alley.

Then Naruto and Sasuke spotted the others as they regroup, they ran up to them, "Any sign of them?" Sasuke asked them, they all shook their head.

"We've searched everywhere but hardly anyone have seen any thugs around this town," Neji said,

"Me and Arkamaru barely pick up their chakras but there's still too many scents covered up," Kiba said.

"And we asked a lot of people but they claim no information about the thugs nor Sakura," Shikamaru said,

"We have to keep searching for them, they could be anywhere," Naruto said.

Ibate held onto the cocoon as he quickly left the alley and was about to make his escape, until he spotted his group running towards him.

"Ibate, we have a problem," Dujobe said, "I already know, we have to leave immediately," Ibate said as he gave the cocoon to Dujobe so he can carry when they leave.

**Inside the cocoon…**

Sakura was struggling as much as she can and she can barely feel her right arm again, **_"Come on Sakura, move,"_** she thought,

**_"Yah! You can do it, cha!" _****Inner Sakura said.** Sakura was able to get her right arm out of the web, and now reaching towards her mouth, **_"Almost there,"_** she thought again as her hand touches the web on her mouth. She's tearing it out of her,

**_"NOW!" _Inner Sakura said.**

**Outside…**

The Ibate and the others are about to head out, until…

"_NARUTO!_" they both heard Sakura yelled from inside the cocoon.

Naruto and the others heard her voice as they immediately turned to where she is, they saw a group of kids in black with some cocoon with them,

"_NARUTO! I'M IN HERE!_" they heard Sakura's loud voice coming from inside the cocoon,

"It's them!" Kiba yelled as he pointed at the group, the group turned to Leaf ninjas; as they've been spotted. So without a second thought, they all started running away from them,

"Hey! Get back here with Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he and the others started chasing after them.

They all run through town, Ibate and his group running away, and Naruto and the others are after chasing them. As they're running, Myazo said to them, "You go on ahead, I'll slow them down," they all nod as he stopped running. He turned to them as they're running towards him, his dark-green eyes became paler and some his green hair stick up to the air; he gathered his chakra at his lung and then…

**_"Frost Bites!" _**he thought as he blew out cold air from his mouth as ice formed to the ground and around certain objects. Just as Naruto and the others are close to him, they suddenly felt their feet stuck and frozen; they looked down and found themselves trapped in ice.

"What the…?" Naruto said as his feet are frozen,

"What gives?" Kiba said as he can't move his feet, then the ice started to grow from their feet up to their ankles, then their shins, then their knees and so on until they're completely frozen solid. After Myazo used his jutsu on them, he quickly ran away from them to catch up with the others, Naruto and his friends try to get out of the ice before they reach them; they're beginning to have frost bites.

"They're getting away," Naruto said,

"But how are we suppose to catch them if we're stuck," Kiba said as he can feel the ice coming up through his legs, "Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked while he's on top of Kiba's head.

"The ice keeps on growing and we don't have much time once we're frozen," Shino said as he felt ice coming up through his hips,

"We have to get out of this and quick," Neji said as he felt the ice coming up through his stomach.

"Man, this is such a drag!" Shikamaru said as ice coming through his chest,

"I'm beginning to lose feeling in my body," Lee said, "Me too," Choji said as ice coming close to their necks. Then,

"Here goes," they all turned to Sasuke as he already made some hand signs of the Tiger sign, and they know what he's going to do.

"No wait!" they all said but it was too late because…

"Fire Style; Flames of Fury!" he said as he blew out a massive amount of fire, melting away the ice and was about to free everyone; and by free, I meant fried.

"Aaahhhh!" they all screamed in pain as they felt the burn, everyone except Sasuke; they put out some fire off of them as some are caught on their clothes. After that, they all turned to Sasuke,

"You could've at least warn us instead of burn us teme!" Naruto said to him as they all glare at him. "Yeah, watch it!" Kiba said,

"You're all welcome, but we shouldn't be standing around here; we have get those guys," Sasuke said to them as he started running,

"Right!" Naruto said as he and his friend quickly left the town and gone after the thugs.

**Forest…**

Ibate lead his group as they jump through the forest again, "We must keep going, we can't let them catch up to us," he said to them,

"Right!" they all said as they're escaping.

**Inside the cocoon…**

Sakura didn't have most of her feeling back but she kept on struggling, then more spiders crawled all over her body trying to wrap her up in web again. **_"No, I can't give up… not now," _**she thought as she kept struggling.

**Throughout the forest near the mountains…**

A figure was standing near the edge above the forest; it was Akeeba as he hid his eyes under his black hat. The wind was blowing through his cape as he waits for his squad to return with their new member. He stood for awhile… then he revealed his bright yellowed eyes and made another smile on his face, as sense his squad are on their way right now.

"Excellent," he said as he vanished again.

**Meanwhile in the forest…**

Ibate and his group are jumping through the forest, as they're a few miles close to where their Lord is. They were all at in open area until… some shuriken were thrown from behind and hit some trees in front of them; they all stopped running as they turned to… Naruto and his friends, they've finally caught up to them.

They all stood in an open area as they faced each other, Ibate stood in front of Dujobe as he held onto the cocoon.

"We finally caught up with you thugs," Sasuke said to them,

"You won't be so sure about that," Ibate said to him, Naruto noticed some cocoon they have. He turned to Neji as he activated his Byakugan; he looked through the cocoon and saw Sakura struggling and some spiders crawling inside,

"She's in there, but I'm not sure how much she can struggle through," he said. Then Naruto turned to the group with a glare,

"Give us back our teammate," he said to them. Myazo and Fuzca stood behind the cocoon, "Not gonna happen," they both said at the same time,

"You're not taking our sister," Uki said while holding her doll,

"She's coming with us," Kilala said as they all stood in the way.

"Funny, I thought of you thugs being like grown-ups and more vicious, but I see you're all kids just like us," Shikamaru said,

"Don't push your luck," Uki said; made Shikamaru shrugged a bit after hearing it from an eight-year-old.

"You thugs have a comrade of ours, so give her back if you know what's good for you," Sasuke said as he pulled out his kunai,

"As much as we wanted to take you all out at once, but we have to take Ms. Haruno to Lord Akeeba," Ibate said. Then Lee charged them, "You're not taking her anywhere," he said as he jumped and used, "Leaf Hurricane!" he said as he aimed it at Ibate,

**_KICK!_**

Lee kicked him right to the neck… it caught him, Naruto, Sasuke and everyone else by surprise. Ibate just stood as Lee kicked his neck, he didn't respond to the pain nor show any expression whatsoever.

**_"H… he didn't bother blocking my attack,"_** Lee thought as he look at him, Ibate looked at him as he grabbed Lee's ankle, "Your attacks have no effect against us," he said as he tighten Lee's ankle.

"Aaahh!" Lee responded to the pain,

"As I said from before, we're taking Ms. Haruno to Lord Akeeba," Ibate said then he pulled Lee's ankle and threw Lee back to Naruto and the others, Choji and Shikamaru caught Lee after he was thrown.

"They're not normal," Shino said, Kiba and Arkamaru turned to him, "What do you mean?" he asked. "Look at their eyes," Shino said then Kiba and Arkamaru looked back at the group and noticed their eyes are similar but different from the original. "Their eyes are much abnormal and something tells me that they're all bad news," Shino explained.

"Exactly, who are you people and why are you taking her?" Neji said as his Byakugan still activated,

"That's none of your concern," Kilala said,

"Ms. Haruno is coming with us and there's nothing you weakling are going to do about it," Dujobe said as he held onto the cocoon; Sakura is struggling and mumbling inside. Naruto was about to charge them,

"We won't let you thugs take her awa… Gah!" Naruto suddenly felt paralyzed, he can't move his body. "Naruto, what's the matter with yo… Ah!" Kiba suddenly felt paralyzed then Shino, Choji, Sasuke and everyone else felt paralyzed.

"Wha… what gives?" Naruto said as he tried to move his body, then, "Like I said, you're not taking our sister," they all turned to Uki as she holds her doll. She was squeezed her doll very tight,

"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of them," Uki said to them others. Since they all knew about Uki's ability of voodoo, they all nodded; Ibate lead the way as Dujobe carried the cocoon on his back, the Zukato brothers and Kilala left Uki with the Leaf ninjas. They continued their way through the forest, taking Sakura to Lord Akeeba.

"They're getting away again," Naruto said, as he still can't move his body,

"Don't bother struggling, it won't do you any good," Uki said as she walked up to him. Everyone else couldn't move their muscles,

"What's with this jutsu?" Lee said as he felt his body been controlled,

"I can't move my body," Choji said trying to reach his chips. Uki walked up to Naruto, digging through his bag of weapons and pulled out a kunai knife, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked.

"Since I must eliminate all of you quickly, I decided to use my doll in order to perform my 'Voodoo Possession' jutsu on all of you," Uki explained then she pointed the kunai at Naruto. "And in order to take out all of you in one blow, I take out only one victim that causes the others to fall with that victim; and you're it," Uki said.

Then, at that moment… Uki squeezed her doll even tighter causing Naruto and the others felt tighten and more paralyzed. Then Uki held onto to the kunai as she go for the kill, she stabbed Naruto right to the heart; that once she stab him the others will go down with him. Except for one thing…

**_Poof!_**

Uki saw that instead of stabbing Naruto, she stabbed a log that just appeared, "A Substitution jutsu," Uki said then she look around the area for him. Then,

"Surprise!" Uki heard his voice as she turned and saw some shuriken appeared out of the trees and coming towards her. Uki quickly jumped and dodged them as they hit the ground then appeared… Naruto behind her as he grabbed her and made her drop her doll, "Gotcha!'" he said.

After Uki dropped her doll, Sasuke, Neji, Kiba and the others have full control of their bodies again. Naruto held onto Uki making sure she won't escape, "Normally I don't hurt a little girl, but in your case, I'll might make an exception," Naruto said to her then he noticed that Uki didn't even bother to struggle free or anything. Uki slowly look at her doll as it's on the ground,

"Don't get yourself cocky," she said then her purple paled eyes became paler as she focus her chakra on her doll.

**Ibate and his group…**

Ibate and his squad are still jumping through the forest then he turned to Kilala, as he noticed she is looking at her visions of the future.

"What do you see Kilala?" Ibate asked her,

"I saw Uki using that forbidden jutsu and fighting against two Leaf ninjas," Kilala answered.

"Two Leaf ninjas," Myazo said,

"What about the other ninjas?" Fuzca asked,

"That's the problem," Kilala said as they know what she means.

**Uki vs. the Leaf ninjas…**

Uki focused her chakra on her doll as her eyes became paler; Neji still has his Byakugan activated as he sees through her chakra. He notice her amount of chakra are being transfer to the doll, **_"What kind of jutsu is this?"_** he thought. Then Arkamaru jumped off of Kiba's head and ran up to the doll, he was sniffing at it for a moment… then suddenly, the doll's head turned to Arkamaru. Arkamaru shrugged after that then…

**_Punch!_**

The doll punched Arkamaru and made him fly back to his master, "Arkamaru," Kiba said as he caught him. They all turned to the doll as it stand on it's own,

"What the…!" Naruto said in surprise, then… the doll sprung onto Naruto's face attacking him, and caused him to let go of Uki.

"It's alive!" Lee said in shock, as the doll started beating, scratching, and biting Naruto's face,

"Not quite, she transferred her amount of chakra to her doll, which makes it come alive but still under her control," Neji explained,

"GAAH!" Naruto yelled as the doll is biting his nose, so he started pulling it off his face,

"Get… Off… My… Face!" he yelled, and managed to pull the doll away from his face. He glare at it, while holding it in his grasp,

"I liked you way better when you do nothing," he yelled at it, until the doll grabbed one of his wrists and…

**_FLIP!_**

It flipped over Naruto as he landed on the ground, and jumped away from him.

"That's one tough doll," Shikamaru stated as the doll in position, in front of the Leaf ninjas,

"You haven't seen the half of it," Uki said as her eyes is still paler, she focused on her chakra he transferred to her doll to perform…

**_"Forbidden jutsu; Gigantic Transformation," _**she thought as her doll suddenly began to grow. It grew bigger and bigger, and bigger and bigger; the Retrieval squad immediately got out of the way. Then the doll became a giant but more of a monster,

**_"RRRROOOOOOAAAAA!" _**the doll roared as it now time to play with the boys; and by play, I meant eliminate them permanently. It turned to Naruto as he got back on his feet, so it threw a punch on the ground…

**_BAM!_**

Naruto was flying after the doll punched the ground, as he hit the ground, Uki quickly jumped and ran up to her doll as it rose back up; Naruto and his friends now have a huge situation in their hands. Uki sat on top of her giant doll's head, she look down at them,

"Ms. Haruno doesn't need to be rescued by you people, she belongs with us," Uki said to them. Naruto quickly got back up again,

"She belongs in Konoha and you're not taking her anywhere," he said then he gathered his chakra to perform,

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" he said as his clones appeared and they're all charging at the giant doll.

Then the doll swung both its arms, and smack and hit every clones in the way; even the real one. After the clones 'poof' away, Naruto hit the ground very hard when the doll smacked him, then the doll lift its foot, targeting Naruto. The giant doll roared again as it's about to stump on him, but luckily… Sasuke appeared; he quickly grabbed Naruto and got out of the way before the foot crushes them. They flew after the foot hit the ground and landed close to the others, they all turned to the giant doll and Uki.

"Don't even try, anyone who faces my doll none of them succeed… nor survived," Uki said as her doll growled at Leaf ninjas.

"How are we supposed to defeat that thing?" Lee asked,

"That little girl gave half of her chakra in her doll, there's hardly any weakness in it," Neji said as they all stood their position and look upon the monstrous giant doll.

**_"In this rate, we might never rescue Sakura-chan,"_** Naruto thought deeply as they're facing a bigger problem with Uki and her giant doll; let's just hope they know what they're doing, because they're still on a mission to retrieve Sakura. So they can't fail this mission.

**To be continued…**

**I hope you enjoyed it, thank you. Please review to me about it while I'll try to update the other chapter as soon as I can. See ya!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I saw that you all don't find this story that interesting as I thought it would. '-Weep-weep-' I understand, '-sniff-sniff-' and if you don't made, I updated this chapter… _just in case if anyone reads it_. 'Weep' So I hope you like it _and enjoy_. (Now would you excuse me, 'sniff' I think I got something in my eye.)**

**Naruto and his friends were able to find the thugs who kidnapped Sakura, but problems stir up when they faced one of the thugs. A little girl with her doll, except her doll just grew into a giant monster. Now Naruto, Sasuke and the others are up against Uki and her giant doll as Ibate led the other group with Sakura with them. So they're… **

Uki and her giant doll are ready to attack the Leaf ninjas, the doll swung it's arm at Naruto and his friends; but they all jumped and split apart as they dodged the arm. The doll hit the ground along with some trees then it turned to Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba and Arkamau. It brought back it's arm as it lift it's foot again, targeting them,

"LOOK OUT!" Shikamaru yelled as the foot is coming at them. He, Neji, Kiba and Arkamaru quickly split apart again and dodged the foot as it stump on the ground.

The giant doll roared again as it turned to Sasuke, Lee, Shino, and Choji, it swung it's other arm at them. Sasuke and the others saw it coming as they quickly split apart and dodged it as it hit the ground and more trees. After that, the doll turned to Naruto as he stood at his position. It growled at him,

_**"Oh no!"**_ Naruto thought as he can tell the doll is now coming for him; as it pulled it's arm back, Naruto is ready to dodge whatever it's going to throw at him… until,

"Eh!" Naruto respond as he felt paralyzed again, "What's going on? I can't feel move my legs," he said. His legs stood still, not moving a muscle, Naruto try to move them but can't control them.

"Don't even think about it," Naruto looked up at Uki as she stood on top of her dolls head, "You're not getting away that easy," she said as she hold onto another doll… except it look exactly like Naruto. Naruto saw her holding onto her dolls legs,

**_"She has another doll?"_ **he thought as he's under her control again. Since Uki's controlling him again, her doll will attack him and finish him off,

"Like I told you, anyone who faced my doll none of them succeed, nor survived," Uki as to him. Then the giant doll is coming towards him with it's other foot, Naruto is defenseless and the foot is closing in on him. Naruto defended himself and shut his eyes as he waits for the pain and agony… but it didn't happened… he slowly opened his eyes and saw the big foot in front of him but frozen. The giant doll suddenly stopped as it felt frozen, then it pulled it's foot back and stood still,

"You okay there Naruto?" Naruto turned to Shikamaru as he stood behind the giant doll… with his Shadow Possession jutsu.

"Shikamaru," Naruto said as Uki turned to him,

"It didn't take me long of finding a perfect time to use my Shadow Possession jutsu on that doll, so since it's in my control, it's going down," Shikamaru said. He turned to Choji, "Now Choji!" he said to him,

"Got it!" Choji said as he gathered his chakra throughout his body; then his arms, legs and head went inside his clothes as it became a around ball full of chakra. He began rolling towards the giant doll with full speed,

"Human Bullet!" he said as he charged at it's legs. Shikamaru quickly released his jutsu on the doll as…

_**BAM! **_

Choji hit the legs and made the giant doll fell off it's feet, as it falls Uki quickly jumped off it's head to the air. Sasuke, Neji, Shino, Kiba and Arkamaru saw the giant doll falling towards them; they quickly got out of the way as it hit the ground and more tree, it shock the ground after it landed. When Uki wasn't holding her doll's legs again, Naruto is back in control of his legs as he quickly ran up to the otheres.

Choji rolled back Shikamaru and went back to his original form,

"Good one Choji," Shikamaru said,

"Well you know what they say; the bigger they are, the harder they fall," Choji said as they looked at the fallen doll.

Uki was in the sky as she gently floated back down; her dress maybe full of cotton and polyester but it's also a good use of a parachute. She look down at her giant doll as it lies on the ground, her purple paled eyes became paler again,

_**"Get up,"** _she thought to her doll. Then the giant doll responded her demands as it slowly began to get up.

Shikamaru and Choji noticed the giant doll is about to get back up again, Shikamaru and Choji turned to Naruto and the others,

"You guys go ahead, we'll take care of this," Choji said to them.

"No way! We won't leave you guys behind with that thing," Naruto said,

"We'll be fine, you still need to retrieve Sakura, remember," Shikamaru said as he turned to the giant doll as it began to rose back on it's feet.

"Now go on ahead, we'll catch up," Shikamaru said as he and Choji stood in their fighting stance.

"But…" Naruto tried to say something until Sasuke placed his hand on his shoulder, "He's right Naruto, we have a mission to take care of, so we must catch up with those other thugs and rescue are teammate," Sasuke explained.

"Arkamaru and I already sniffed out their trail, if we leave now we'll be able to catch them on time," Kiba said to them,

"Alright then, let's go," Neji said. Then Sasuke, Shino, Neji, Kiba and Arkamaru head off and went after the other group, Naruto stood behind as he turned to Shikamaru and Choji,

"Don't worry Naruto, we'll catch you guys up," Choji said to him. Naruto looked at them for a moment then he nodded and started following the others through the forest.

Now Shikamaru and Choji were left behind with the giant doll and Uki, as she gently landed on top of her doll's head again,

"So it's only you two here? No matter, you and your friends are still not taking Sakura away," Uki said as she looked down at them.

"That's some talk for a little girl still playing with her dolls," Shikamaru said to her,

"Don't be so sure," Uki said as her giant doll stood at it's position and looking down at Shikamaru and Choji.

"I'll take down the girl," Shikamaru said to Choji,

"While I'll take down the doll," Choji said to Shikamaru as they're ready to fight against Uki and her giant doll.

**Throughout the forest… **

Ibate and his group jumped through the forest,

"Just a few more miles and we'll be close to the mountains," Ibate said to the others, they all nodded and continued their way. The Kilala sensed some chakra level coming from behind,

"They're on their way," she said to them, they all stopped for a moment, Ibate turned to the Zukato brothers, "You both know what to do?" he asked to them, they both nod, "We know what to do," Myazo and Fuzca answered at the same time. "Good, get rid of them as soon as possible…" Ibate said then turned Dujobe, while carrying the cocoon, and Kilala, "Let's go," said to them, then they both left the Zukato brothers behind.

"Once they come, I'll freeze them again so they won't get out of it this time," Myazo said,

"While, I order my little friends to wrap them up into webs, I forgot to feed them during lunch time," Fuzca said as both their paled eyes turned paler and waited for the Leaf ninjas to come.

**Shikamaru and Choji vs. Uki and her giant doll… **

Uki made the first strike as she order her doll to take them out, so the giant doll made a huge jump off the ground targeting Shikamaru and Choji. They both saw the doll coming down on them,

"Let's go Choji!" Shikamaru said as they quickly split apart and dodged the doll as it lands back on the ground; it made a huge rumble after it landed. Choji stood behind it as he gathered his chakra again and turned back into a around ball again, he rolled towards the doll. The doll tried to punch him but he dodged it,

"Missed me!" he said while rolling in full speed around the doll. The doll kept on punching and stumping at him but Choji kept rolling around it, dodging it's attacks.

As for Shikamaru, he's now facing Uki; she gently float back down to the ground after she jumped off her giant doll and used her dress to parachute down again. They both face each other,

"I've always been fighting girls most of my time, but now I stoop so low; not only I'm fighting against a girl again but a little eight year old instead," Shikamaru said.

"I'm eight in a half," Uki said to him,

"That makes it a little better," he said then he gathered his chakra within his shadow, "But no matter, because I won't be losing to you," he said. Then he used his 'Shadow Possesion jutsu' again as his shadow is charging Uki straight ahead, she quickly think fast as she dodged the shadow,

_**"Don't even try,"** _Shikamaru thought as his shadow is closing in on her. Then suddenly… he felt his body paralyzed again,

"What the…" Shikamaru respond as he couldn't feel his body and his shadow retreated back to him._**"What just happened…? I can't feel my body,"** _Shikamaru thought deeply,

"Don't bother," Shikamaru turned to Uki as she stood while holding her doll, but what he saw was… he doll… look exactly like him.

"As long as I have my voodoo doll, I can control anyone, anywhere, anytime," Uki said while holding the 'Shikamaru doll,'

_**"Shit!"**_ Shikamaru thought.

**Through the forest… **

While jumping through the forest, Kiba and Arkamaru are leading the squad as they continue chasing after the thugs. "They're three of them still moving and the other two stayed behind," Kiba said to the others,

"Seems like we have to prepare ourselves for whatever it is they'll throw at us," Shino said.

"I agree, the last one we faced nearly took us out easily, we have to be ready for the other two," Neji said,

"Let just hope they're not worst than that little girl," Lee said as they kept on jumping through the forest.

**Further away… **

The Zukato brothers still stood as they wait for the Leaf ninjas, Fuzca used on of his techniques to sense living presence from miles away. Then he sensed six ninjas coming there way,

"Here they come, brother," he said to Myazo as his hair stuck up again, "I'm on it," he said then he inhaled some air into his lungs. Then he blew at cold air, creating green ice around the trees, leaves and branches,

"Come on out my friends," Fuzca said as his spiders as they started crawling all over both his arms.

**Further back… **

Naruto and his friends are still jumping through the forest catching up with the thugs, then they noticed the temperature suddenly drop and he felt a little cold,

"What's going on? Why's everything became cold all of the sudden?" Naruto asked

"It's some kind of jutsu from one of the thugs, from the looks of it they're already prepared for us," Sasuke said.

"We must keep our guard up along with our eyes open," Shino said then Neji quickly activated his Byakugan again to see further ahead of them. He saw two figures ahead of them as one of them jumped away the other… just threw three sharp objects at them,

"LOOK OUT!" Neji yelled to the others as the three sharp objects appeared; there're sharp green iced daggers been thrown. Naruto and Sasuke split apart and dodged the first one as it hit the branch, then Shino, Kiba and Arkamaru split apart and dodged the second one as it hit the tree trunk. And Neji and Lee split apart and dodged the last one as it hit between the branch and the tree trunk.

After they all dodged the three sharp ice they suddenly got caught in spider webs, Naruto was stuck with Kiba and Arkamaru, Shino was stuck with Neji, and Sasuke was stuck with Lee. They all struggle to break free and then arachnids appeared as they crawled on their webs, and started crawling on them.

"GAAHHH!" Naruto screamed, "Get them off of me! Get them off of me!" he yelled as shook both his legs kicking off some spiders off of him. Then...

"Don't even bother," they all heard a voice from above, they all looked up and saw two kids on top of the branches among them.

"There's no point of escaping my spider's webs," Fuzca said as he crouched down while looking down at them,

"It's them," Sasuke said,

"Where are you thugs taking Sakura?" Naruto asked in demand.

"That's none of your concern and there's no point for you people rescuing Ms. Haruno," Myazo said as he lean against the tree, then his twin grabbed hold of two web strings and flipped upside down. He began to lower himself down towards Naruto and his friends as they still struggle to get out of the webs, then Fuzca stopped himself and looked at them while being upside down **(kind of like in Spider-man style.)**

"Once she meets Lord Akeeba, it'll be too late for you to save her," Fuzca said to them while looking at Naruto, Kiba and Arkamaru,

"I won't let you thugs take my comrade away, and if your Lord so dare lay a hand on her I'LL KILL HIM!" Naruto said with angry as if he's releasing the energy from the Nine-Tailed Fox demon.

"You show much anger in you, even with that fox demon cealed in," Fuzca said to him, Naruto shrugged that he knows about Kyuubi. Then Myazo disappeared and reappeared from behind the tree as he stood next to his twin,

"Nevertheless, not even someone like you can defeat our Lord, no one has," he said to Naruto,

"Exactly, who is this Lord Akeeba and what did he want with our teammate?" Sasuke asked while still being stuck with Lee. Myazo turned to him, "Lord Akeeba is our greatest leader of all and much powerful than you imagine," he said then his twin flipped and let go of the web strings, and land on the branch next to his brother. Fuzca stood up, "When the time comes, you will all suffer the wrath of his power," he said as he watched his spiders beginning to wrap the Leaf ninjas into a cocoon. They all struggle to get of the webs but it was to strong and sticky, and the spiders are wrapping them p fast,

"And to make sure you guys won't escape again…" Myazo said then he blew out cold air from his mouth, he blew it the trees, which connects with the webs along with the squads stuck in it. More green ice appears as it began to increase parts of the tree and began to grow on the webs, and the spiders are almost done wrapping them inside a cocoon, "We'll make sure you won't escape at all," Myazo said to them.

_**"I can't break free,"** _Lee thought as the webs wrapped around his legs and ice began to increase on him,

_**"These webs are too strong,"**_ Sasuke thought as the webs wrapped around his stomach and ice increase on him.

_**"If we get wrapped up and become icicles, we might never get out of this,"** _Kiba thought as the webs wrapped around his chest and ice is covering him, Arkamaru whimpers as he's almost completely wrapped up and frozen.

_**"We have to get out of this, we have to save Sakura,"**_ Naruto thought as the webs wrapped around his mouth and the ice covers him.

Then later, they're all wrapped inside the cocoon and been covered in ice.

**Further away… **

Ibate, Dujobe and Kilala are still jumping through the forest while Dujobe carried the cocoon on his back. He can feel Sakura's struggling inside.

**Inside the cocoon… **

"Let me out of here! I won't let you people take me away! LET ME OUT!" Sakura screaming and shouting inside the cocoon then more spiders crawled on her body,

"AAHHH!" she screamed as she's still terrified of spiders.

**Outside… **

"She's beginning to regain some feelings back," Dujobe said,

"That will be no bother, we're almost close to the mountains and the Zutaro brothers are taking care of those Leaf ninjas," Ibate said.

"Not quite," Kilala said, they both turned to her after she saw another vision,

"What do mean?" Ibate asked.

"Myazo and Fuzca will fight against two Leaf ninjas," Kilala answered,

"What about the other four?" Dujobe asked,

"That would be another problem," Kilala said as she knows what she means… again.

**Zutaro brothers vs. Leaf ninjas… **

"There's no way they'll escape from my ice," Myazo said as he folded his arms, "And my spiders will enjoy their feast… Lord Akeeba will be very pleased once Ms. Haruno joins us," Fuzca said as he placed both his hand in his pockets.

"Of course he will… now let get rid of them fast and catch up with the others," Myazo said,

"Agree," Fuzca said as both their eyes became paler again. Myazo hair sticks up even more and he's breathing out cold air, Fuzca fingers grew sharp, along with his front teeth, "I'll get the first three while you get the other three," Fuzca said to his twin,

"Sounds pretty even to me," Myazo said. Then they're about to go for the kill… until… some shuriken were thrown from above and hit the tree in front of the Zutaro brothers, they both stopped after that.

"I'm afraid your jutsus can't hold all of us down," they both looked up and saw… Shino and Neji as they're standing on the branch looking down at them.

"Luckily my beetles were able to cut through your webs before the ice took over," Shino said,

"And if it wasn't for the ice covering the webs, I wouldn't be able to find it's weak point in order to free myself," Neji said as his Byakugan is activated. The Zutaro brothers looked at them from below,

"No matter, you Leaf ninjas will never get to Ms. Haruno in time," Myazo said as he exhaled some cold air, Fuzca flipped backwards and land on the tree behind him, then jumped on another tree and position himself in a spider-style. He looked at them again,

"It'll be too late once she's in the hands of Lord Akeeba," he said to them as he started crawling up to them in a quick speed.

_**"His speeds are incredible,"** _Neji thought as he sees through his chakra that he has an amount of chakra combined with an instinct of a spider. He and Shino saw him coming, then Shino stuck out his hands and his billions of beetles appeared out of his sleeves,

"I'll take care of him, you try to free the others," he said to Neji. Neji nodded then he quickly jumped off the branch and head towards the frozen cocoons.

Myazo saw him going after the frozen cocoons as he blew out more cold air as it becomes three more green ice daggers and they're aiming at Neji. With his Byakugan, Neji saw them as he quickly break them with both his hands and without getting a scratch on him, then he landed in front of the frozen cocoon. He gathered his amount of chakra through his fingers and use gentle fist on every frozen cocoon,

_**Break! Break! Break! Break! **_

Neji freed Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru out of the frozen cocoon, they quickly brush off some spiders on them as they crawled on their bodies.

"Thanks a lot Neji," Naruto said,

"Thank me later, look out!" Neji said as they saw Myazo blew out three more ice daggers, they quickly split apart and dodged them as they both hit the tree.

Shino is busy with Fuzca as he ordered his beetles to use counter-attack on him, but Fuzca jumped and dodged every beetles and charge at Shino. Then Fuzca spat out a ball of web at Shino, Shino jumped and dodged the ball of web,

**_"His chakra is somehow similar to mine… but his jutsu are much abnormal than before,"_ **Shino thought as he dodged more of Fuzca's ball of webs. Shino was back with the group as Myazo stood next to his twin, they faced each other again.

"We can't waste anymore time, we have to catch up with those other thugs," Sasuke said,

"Then you guys go on ahead, we'll take care them," Neji said with his Byakugan still activated.

"We'll catch up you up later," Shino said as more of his beetles appeared from under his sleeves,

"You sure you guys know what you're going? I mean those two are more complicated than that little girl we faced," Kiba said.

"We can handle them, you guys catch up with the other thugs; you have a mission to complete," Neji said as he position himself to fight,

"Alright then, let's go," Sasuke said as he made the head start, Naruto followed him.

"Be careful Neji," Lee said then he left to followed Naruto and Sasuke,

"You too Shino," Kiba said, "Ruff! Ruff!" Arkamaru barked then they both left him and Neji, and followed the others.

"So it's only two of you?" Fuzca said as spiders crawled on his arms,

"I'm afraid so," Shino said as his beetle emerge around him,

"No matter, there's two of you and two of us, so we're pretty even enough," Myazo said as he exhaled more cold air,

"You took the words right out of my mouth, so let's see what you got," Neji said. They all position themselves as they're about to fight.

**Shikamaru and Choji vs. Uki and the giant doll… **

Shikamaru is still under control by Uki with her voodoo doll of himself,

"Now then… up right," Uki said as she moved her doll's right arm up. Shikamaru's right arm went up,** _"She's controlling my body,"_** he thought then,

"Down left," Uki said as she moved her doll's left arm down. Shikamaru's left arm went down while his right arm is up, **_"This is bad; as long as she has that doll she'll control me against my will,"_ **he thought then,

"Now split!" Uki said as she moved her doll's legs in separate different direction. Shikamaru's legs got separated in different direction as he did the split,

"AAAHHHH!" he screamed in pain from both his legs.

Choji heard Shikamaru screamed, as he needs his help, he rolled towards him after he dodged another attack from the giant doll. The giant doll roared again as he chased after Choji as he started to roll away from it.

"Now…" Uki said as she started pulling her doll's arms in different direction, Shikamaru felt both his arms being pulled apart as if they're about to be torn off. Uki pulled her doll's arms very hard trying to tear it off, Shikamaru started moaning in pain on both his arms as if he felt fire burning through his shoulders and his arms are being pulled by chain. Uki was about to tear off her dolls arms until…

"Human Bullet!" she heard a loud voice as she quickly turned and saw the other ninja in a ball rolling towards her. Uki quickly dodged him as he rolled passed her and then…

_**"RRROOOOAAAAA!"** _The giant doll roared as it threw another punch to the ground…

_**BAM! **_

It nearly punched Uki as she flew to the opposite direction. She hit the ground and dropped her doll again, Shikamaru was no longer in her control as he can control his body again.

"Thanks Choji," Shikamaru said to him as he got back on his feet, Choji was back to his original form as he turned to Shikamaru, "Sure thing Shikamaru," he said to him. Though the giant doll is still after him, it through another punch then Choji quickly jumped and dodged it's attack again. Shikamaru quickly turned to the little girl as she's about to get up and get her doll, he gather his chakra to his shadow again. Uki was back on her feet as she's about to grab her doll from the ground… until Uki couldn't move her body,

"I finally got you," she turned to Shikamaru as he stood with a smirk on his face. He got her with his 'Shadow Possession jutsu,' so now he controls her body,

"I have to say, beyond other little girls, you sure know how to put up a fight but I'm afraid your little play time is over," he said to Uki as she stood paralyzed.

Choji is busy dodging every attack from the giant doll,

_**"I can't keep avoiding it, I must get close to it,"** _he thought deeply after he dodged another punch from the doll. He landed on the ground again, as he quickly pulled out his colored food pills, he took one of the pills and ate it. As he at the food pill, he increase the amount of chakra all over his body as he performed,

"Partial Expansion Jutsu," he said as his body grew bigger and bigger. Now Choji became a giant himself as he and the giant doll are about the same height. The doll roared again as it threw another at him, Choji stopped it's punch with his hand then the doll threw another punch at him but Choji stopped it with his other hand. They both faced each other as they both pushed every amount of their strength.

"Normally I would just take you out, but, as a gentlemen, I would never harm a girl; especially a little girl like yourself," Shikamaru said as he walked up to her, Uki did the same as she's still in his control of his shadow. "Consider yourself an imbecile, because when it comes to grown-ups going easy on me because I'm little, they got what's coming for them," Uki said as they both stopped and faced each other.

"And what's that?" Shikamaru asked,

"I'm afraid you have to get your answer… from yourself," Uki said to him. Shikamaru raised his left eyebrow,** _"What is she talking about 'from myself?'"_** he thought, and then… he suddenly became paralyzed again.

"What the…!" he said in shock as his shadow retreated back to him again, which freed Uki, and lose control of his body again. Shikamaru manage to look down at his shadow as he saw that it was casted by another shadow; so he slowly followed where the other shadow come from, and found out… it came from the doll of himself.

It stood on it's feet as it cast it's 'Shadow Possession jutsu' on Shikamaru,

"That's impossible," Shikamaru said as he looked at the doll of himself. "It is impossible, but long as it's you and it's under my control, I can control your body even if I'm not holding my doll; so that's what happens to others if they play with me and my dolls," Uki said as she looked up to him.

_**"This is such a drag!"**_ Shikamaru thought as his bodies being controlled again and the fact that he's in big trouble.

**Neji and Shino vs. the Zutaro brothers… **

Myazo made the first strike as he blew out more cold air; green ice appears as it's covering every tree around them. Neji and Shino quickly split apart as the ice covers the trees behind them, they both land on separate trees from above. Fuzca jumped on the tree and crawled up towards where Shino is,

"There's no way you'll defeat spiders," Fuzca said to him then more Tarantulas crawled out of his pants and his shirt; then they all charge towards Shino.

Neji kept dodge and breaking every green ice daggers Myazo throw at him, then he looked threw his chakra with his Byakugan.

_**"His chakra kept on increasing every second… he's nowhere near human,"** _Neji thought as he dodged more of Myazo ice daggers.

"Your reflex skills are very impressive but it doesn't mean that can escape my ice," Myazo said as he jumped and blew out more cold air; causing more ice on the trees. Neji dodged his ice as it spreads… until some of the ice caught his right foot,_**"No,"** _he thought then he quickly swung his foot to the tree behind him.

_**Break! **_

He broke his foot free, except he felt a bit of numbness between his toes and his ankle. "His jutsu are becoming more complicated than before…" Neji said to himself, he slowly turned to Myazo as he exhaled more cold air.

"I have to figure out a way to defeat him… but how?" he said to himself as he stood back on his feet; then he and Myazo faced each other again.

Shino ordered his beetles to attack the spiders as they're closing in on him, over a million of beetle scattered and fighting off the spiders. Some of them succeed and some of them were eaten, though Shino was safe… until he sensed someone appeared behind him. Shino quickly turned and saw a kick coming him, he ducked as he quickly dodged it then a claw was coming at him; he pulled out his kunai and blocked the claw,

"You responded quickly, but it won't do you any good," Fuzca said to him as they faced each other. Then he through another claw at him but Shino dodged it, then Shino try to cut him with his kunai but Fuzca kicked his hand, which made him drop his kunai. Then Fuzca jumped and kicked Shino to the stomach, and made him hit another tree behind him. Fuzca land back on his feet then he walk up to him,

"You and I are alike, we both inhabited with bugs and insects throughout mother-nature…" he said. Then Fuzca grabbed Shino's collar with his claws, "Except the only thing that we're different…" he said then he whispered in Shino's left ear, "Is that we're in a different food-chain."

Then Fuzca opened his mouth and revealed his sharp fangs, and he's going at Shino's neck.

_**Bite! **_

He bit his neck and was about to suck his blood… except Shino body suddenly appears to be beetles as they scattered away from Fuzca.

"You're right, we are alike and we're in different food-chain," Fuzca heard his voice as he turned around and saw him with more beetles appear from under his sleeves,

"But it doesn't mean you'll defeat me with you spiders," Shino said to him. Fuzca turned to him as his spiders appeared crawling on his legs, arms and near his face,

"Then let's see which is stronger, your beetles or my spiders," Fuzca said as his gray paled eyes turned paler,

"Bring it," Shino said, as they both faced each other again.

**Further away from the forest… **

"You know what to do Kilala?" Ibate asked as they stopped again,

"Yes," Kilala said as she stood with her back behind him and Dujobe.

"Good, be sure they won't follow us," Ibate said to her, "Got it," Kilala said, Ibate turned to the cocoon as he can hear Sakura screaming, shouting and struggle inside. He placed his hand on the cocoon,

"Not to worry Ms. Haruno, we're almost there," he said to her while she's still in the cocoon,

_"LET ME OUT!"_ Sakura yelled from inside the cocoon. Ibate turned to Dujobe, "Let's move," he said them they both left Kilala behind.

"I may not see them nor their faces…" Kilala said then her gold paled eyes turned paler, "But it doesn't mean they can get pass me," she said as she waits for the other ninjas.

**Further back…**

Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru are now chasing after the other thugs as they're jumping through the forest.

"Ruff-Ruff!" Arkamaru barked,

"What's that?" Kiba asked him,

"Ruff-Ruff," Arkamaru barked,

"Shit," Kiba he said to himself.

"What is it?" Naruto asked,

"One of the thugs stood behind and the other two are still far ahead," Kiba answered,

"Then we have to keep our guard up at all cause," Sasuke said,

"Agreed, we still have to proceed with the mission," Lee said as they all continue jumping through the forest. Naruto clenched both his hands, imagining what they're doing to Sakura,

_**"I swear, if their Lord ever laid one hair on her, I kill him!"** _he thought loudly as he felt an impulse of anger in him.

**Further away… **

Ibate and Dujobe are jumping through the forest while Dujobe is carrying the cocoon on his back.

**Inside the cocoon… **

Sakura barely struggles as she wasting her energy, she was able to feel half of her body again but she couldn't free herself out of the cocoon. She panted for exhaustion and she can hardly breathe,

_**"… Naruto… Sasuke… please hurry…"**_ Sakura thought.

**Outside… **

Ibate and Dujobe are still jumping through the forest,

_**"We're on our way Lord Akeeba,"**_ Ibate thought as he the way.

**Further-further away through the forest… **

A figure, in a black cape, is jumping through the forest in a fast speed while wearing a black hat and an evil smirk on his face; he giggled evilly.

"You've done well my children," he said as he jumped through the forest in a fast speed and giggled once again.

**To be continued… **

**I hope you like it… that is if you read it. Please review, please. I'll try to update another chapter. Bye. **

**Voting Time! **

**Who do you think Sakura would pair up with? Naruto, Sasuke or Ibate?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I read your reviews and I see that you do like my story after all. So to get to the chase… here's the story I just updated. Enjoy!**

**The 'Sakura Retrival' squad are having trouble with Ibate's squad; that Shikamra and Choji are fighting against Uki and her giant doll. Now Neji and Shino are fighting against the Zutaro brothers, Myazo and Fuzca. Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru are still chasing the other group, they're keeping their guard up for one of their tricks… and Kilala's waiting for them. So meanwhile, they're…**

**Shino and Neji vs. the Zutaro brothers…**

Myazo and Neji faced each other as Myazo made the first strike, he blew out more cold air as it formed more ice then he made a bow and arrow. Neji stood in his position and as he can tell he's about to target him. "Let's see how you can dodge this," Myazo said as he gathered his chakra, and position his bow and arrow at Neji. At the stretch from his ice-bow holding the ice-arrow, he released it as it flew straight towards Neji, Neji saw the arrow coming as he's about to dodge it… until…

_**"Now…Multiple-Arrows,"**_ Myazo thought as his paled green turned paler and focused his chakra on his arrow. Then suddenly, while the arrow was flying, it started to mulitiply into a bunch of arrows, about over twenty-five arrows coming at Neji._ **"Shit,"**_ Neji thought as he saw many ice-arrows coming right at him. Since he can't dodge all, he used is amount of chakra along with his Byakugan to break each arrow. Neji broke every ice-arrow with gentle-fist, punch and kicks and a fast speed… until some of them stretch his right shoulder, his lower left stomach and his left knee. After he dodged and broke some of the ice-arrows, he jumped all the way down to the ground. Myazo saw him as he was on the ground in his position again,

_**"He's one of the few people who ever dodged and broke my ice-arrows… but nevertheless, even with his Byakugan, he doesn't have what it takes to escape my ice,"**_ he thought as he blew out another ice-arrow and position it with his bow, pointing at Neji again.

Shino and Fuzca are fighting with beetles against spiders, Fuzca spat out every ball of cobwebs at Shino, but Shino kept dodging and blocking every attack with a help from his beetles.

**_"Let's see how he can escape my webs,"_ **Fuzca thought as he gathered up his chakra through his system, and…

_**"Secret Art; Surrounding Webs,"**_ he thought and then his stomach beginning to growl as he stood still. Shino noticed his reaction as he stood and his body trembles a bit, "What is he doing?" he said as he watched him. Then Fuzca somehow up-chuck something from his stomach and he tilt his head to the air. He spat out a very huge ball of cobwebs as he shot it up to the air, Shino saw his cobweb ball as it was tossed into the air. Then Fuzca focused his chakra towards his webs, _**"Release,"**_ he thought and then…

**_Boom!_!**

The ball explored and a whole lot of cob webs scattered all over the area; on every branch, on every leaves all over the trees around them. Shino as about to dodge all of them, except that…

"Eh!" he respond as he was every cobwebs around him and Fuzca, and there is no where to escape.

"I figure that everywhere you go, you try to escape from my spiders; so instead I decided to use my webs so it will be just you and me, with our bugs," Fuzca said after he wiped his mouth and more spiders crawling on his skin._ **"This isn't good, he surround his webs everywhere and I can't find a way out,"**_ Shino thought deeply, Fuzca gone to his fighting stance, "Now lets put it to a test shall we," he said then Shino gone back to his fighting stance and beetles appeared out of his sleeves again.

**Forest…**

Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru are catching up with the other thugs, continuing the 'Sakura Retrieval' mission. And Kiba and Arkamaru found out one of the thugs are waiting for them up ahead.

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked, "We're almost there," Kiba said to them,

"Get ready for whatever it is they throw at us," Sasuke said, they all agreed. Naruto clutches both his hands as he remember what the twins said to him earlier,

**Flashback…**

_**"…there's no point for you people rescuing Ms. Haruno," Myazo said,**_

_**"Once she meets Lord Akeeba, it'll be too late for you to save her," Fuzca said.**_

**Flashback over…**

**_"I won't let that bastard harm her,"_ **he thought as he and the others continue jumping through the forest on their way.

**Further away…**

Kilala sensed them coming as she quickly gathered up her chakra to perform a genjutsu, so…_ **"Shadow Darkness jutsu,"**_ she thought as her shadow became larger and covers up nearly the entire area around her.

**Further back…**

Naruto, Sasuke and the others are almost close to the enemy… until they all notice darkness falls and the sun has disappeared.

"It's night already?" Naruto said,

"I wouldn't be so sure," Lee said, as he knows that it is too soon to be night yet. Then the sky grow darker all of the sudden,

"Up ahead," Sasuke said as he spotted a very dark area in front of them as they all entered it. They are all in the darkness and they couldn't see anything.

"Hey! What's gives? Why's everything so dark?" Naruto said,

"I can't see a thing," Lee said,

"Arkamaru where are you?" Kiba said,

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked,

"It's a genjutsu, keep your guard up," Sasuke said to them then he activated his Sharingan.

"I can't even see you guys," Lee said as he tried to find his friends through the darkness,

"Sasuke is that you?" Naruto asked as he's searching through the dark and then…

**_Bite!_**

"Aaahh!!" Naruto screamed in pain as he felt something bit his hand,

"Ruff!" Arkamaru barked,

"Arkamaru!" Kiba called out for his dog,

"Hold it you guys," Sasuke said as he scanned the area through the darkness with his Sharingan. He spotted some chakra up ahead as he saw a figure in front of them, so he thought fast as he gathered his chakra and formed some hand signs… of a Tiger sign to…

"Fire Style; Phoenix Flower jutsu!" he said as he blew out a bunch of fire through the darkness. Naruto, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru were able to see some light from Sasuke's secret technique, and then the darkness suddenly disappeared as the sun reappeared. After Sasuke used his fire technique, he, Naruto, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru found themselves on ground at an open area. They all watched as the darkness disappeared and somehow went back to a paled teenage girl wearing a black dress, has long curly gold hair and paled gold eyes. They all stood in their position,

"It's another one those thugs," Naruto said,

"Seems like it… and from her genjutsu, she's a lot stronger than those twins he faced," Kiba said as Arkamaru growled at her.

"Then let's see how strong she really is," Lee said as he's in his fighting stance with his hand stuck up, Sasuke analyzed her as she just stood there not moving a muscle. Then he noticed her eyes…

"This one's blind," he said to them,

"What? She's blind…? How can you tell?" Naruto asked him,

"As I saw through her chakra, I saw some negative energy around her eyes that it's only been cause by blindness," Sasuke explained.

"Aren't we the smart one… but, nevertheless, you ninjas won't get pass me," Kilala said and she stood her position,

"We'll see about that!" Naruto said as he charged, "I won't let you thugs take Sakura away," he said as he gathered up his chakra. "Naruto don't!" Sasuke called out to him, but he was too late as…

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto said as a bunch of his clones appeared around Kilala as they all charge at her. They were all about to throw a punch at her at the same time… until, **_"There,"_** Kilala thought then she quickly jumped before the clones hurt her. They all saw her in the air as she flipped, twisted and turned as she was falling back down at the clones, except…

**_KICK!_**

She kicked the real Naruto to the face very hard and made him flew to the opposite direction where Sasuke and the others are. After he was kicked, his clones 'poof' away as Kilala flipped backwards and land back to her position. Lee and Kiba caught Naruto on time before he hit the ground,

"How is it possible?" Lee said as he and Kiba helped Naruto up to his feet,

"She was able to find the real Naruto even though without a sight," Kiba said.

"As true as it seems but I can see what will happen before it even happens," Kilala explained, Naruto was wiping a bit of his blood in his mouth after she kicked him, "What's with these thugs? First that little girl playing with voodoo dolls, then those twins who almost froze me and feed me to their spiders, and now this girl can see through my moves; and she can't see at all!" he said.

**_"She's seems more difficult than those other three,"_** Sasuke thought,

"Anyone else?" Kilala said as she separated her legs, blocking their way so they won't go pass her. Then Kiba turned to Arkamaru, "Come on Arkamaru, let's give her something even she won't see it coming," he said to him as he pulled out two food pills from his bag. "Bark!" Arkamaru barked then Kiba gave him a food pill as they both ate one, then Arkamaru's fur turned red as he and Kiba felt the boost of chakra in them. Then Arkamaru used a Transformation jutsu to transform himself to Kiba, they both looked at her with chakra flows in them but much wildness. "LET'S GO!" they both said then they both charge at her.

**Further away…**

Ibate and Dujobe stopped to rest for a moment,

"I can sense Kilala stalling them, but I'm not how long before we reach to Lord Akeeba," Dujobe said as he looked back.

"That won't be much of a problem as long as she can see through her visions, they won't have a chance of defeating her so easily," Ibate said to him then turned to the cocoon, as he noticed Sakura is still struggling and mumbling inside. "While we rest, we can continue our talk Ms. Haruno," Ibate said as his paled blue eyes turned paler once again.

**Shikamaru and Choji vs. Uki and the giant doll…**

Choji is still facing the giant doll in his giant form, they both used most of their strength as they wrestle. **_"The food pill is almost gone…I'm not sure how long I can keep this up,"_** Choji thought as he glared at the doll as it roared at him.

Shikamaru is still being controlled by a doll of himself with it's 'Shadow Possession jutsu', Uki walked up to him, dig through his bag and pulled out a kunai like she did to Naruto. "Now with you in my control, I'll make sure I get rid of you quickly," she said, then she turned back to her doll, "And I'll start by taking out the other you," she said as she walked back to her doll. Shikamaru became terrified that Uki is actually going to kill him by killing her doll of himself, **_"Is this really the end for me?"_ **he thought as he watched Uki stood in front of her doll with a kunai in her hand. "Now," Uki said as she goes for the kill once again, she was close of plunging the kunai at her doll… until suddenly, Uki became frozen and the kunai was close to the doll. Shikamaru noticed her hesitation, _**"What just happened?"**_ he thought as he watched her stand with her back turned then… she giggled!

"It's a good thing I got here on time," Uki said, Shikamaru somehow became confused after what she just said, "If I haven't shown up, you and Choji would be in hell of trouble," she said. Uki turned to him with a smile, "Right Shika?" Uki said as she winked at him then Shikamaru became surprise when she called him by his nickname, and the only person who called him 'Shika' is none other than…

"Ino!" he said as Ino giggled again, "The one and only," she said for she used her 'Mind Transfer jutsu' on Uki and saved her comrade. "What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked, "Lady Hokage sent me to help you guys on your mission, and I see that you guys Choji might need my help," Ino said. As she turned to Choji while wrestling the giant doll and he's almost out of chakra,

"Now would be the best time," Shikamaru said as he still being control by the doll of himself in it's 'Shadow Possession jutsu'.

"Alright, I'll just help Choji first and then I'll… Gah!" Ino shriek as she felt Uki's body stun and struggled._ **"Oh no!"**_ Shikamaru thought as he seen this reaction before, that time when Ino and Sakura were fight against each other at the Preliminaries in their Chunin Exam. That Sakura has managed to shatter Ino's jutsu, and now Uki's about to do the same.

**Uki's mind…**

Ino found herself in a dark dimension in Uki's mind, **_"Where am I?"_** Ino said as she looked around her then she heard some voices.

**_"Happy Birthday princess,"_** Ino turned and saw two parents celebrating their daughter's fifth birthday, **_"Happy Birthday sweetheart,"_ **the mother said as the father gave their daughter a present. The little girl took her present and started opening it, she became happy when she saw her present, **_"A doll!"_** the girl cheered as she pulled out her doll. It's all dressed up in a small dress and it's just what every girl wanted as a friend, **_"Sure is hon,"_** her mother said, **_"And we got it just for you, because you're our little angel," _**her father said. Then the girl jumped on her while holding her doll, giving him a hug then her mother join the group hug, **_"I love you,"_ **the girl said with a smile, **_"And we love you too, Chikuma,"_** her mother said.

After Ino saw the image as it fade away, she wonders, **_"What's that all about?"_** she thought, and suddenly she found saw a small figure in front of here. A little eight year old girl with brown hair in two pigtails and brown eyes, holding a doll whimpering, Ino walked up to her, **_"Hey, are you alright?"_** she asked to her. The little girl became startled as she turned to her, **_"What are you doing here? You're not suppose to be here,"_** the little girl said. _**"What are talking about? Who are you?"** _Ino asked, **_"There's no time to explain, you must leave and save your friend before it's too late,"_** the little girl said while backing away and holding her doll. _**"Too late… what are saying?"** _Ino asked once again, **_"Your friend is in grave danger, you must save her save before she meets…"_ **the girl gasped with a little shriek as she shows fear in her eyes. Then she started running away from her, **_"No wait! Come back!"_ **Ino yelled to the little girl but she ran into the darkness and disappeared.

**_"Was she trying to warn me, and what was she running away fro…"_** Ino gasped as she spotted a huge shadow appear and it's coming from behind. She quickly turned and saw… Uki in a giant form looking down at her, then Ino saw her arm coming towards her. She tried to run away from her but Uki grabbed her with her giant hand, Ino couldn't struggle free as she's led near Uki's face.

**_"Nobody controls my body and gets away with it,"_ **Uki said to her, Ino looked at her paled purple eyes, **_"What's with this girl?"_** she thought.

_**"And since you're still here, I'm going to treat like my doll and play with you,"** _Uki said to her then she placed her other hand on her hand, **_"Starting with this!"_** she said then she started squeezing her. **(Like Inner Sakura did when Ino entered in Sakura's mind.) **Ino is now being squeezed in Uki's grip and she can't escape from her.

**Outside…**

Shikamaru saw Uki struggle and trembling in front of him, as he knows that Ino is in trouble, **_"That little girl's spirit is attacking Ino's, I have to think of something quick!"_** he thought. Then he quickly turned to Choji as he's still wrestling with the giant doll. He yelled,

"CHOJI!" Choji led his eyes down to him as he called his name, "TAKE THAT DOLL DOWN NOW!" Shikamaru yelled to him. Choji turned back to the doll as it growled at him, his chakra is almost out but was able to make a smirk on his face. He quickly moved his leg behind the doll's, tripped it and made it off balance. The giant fell…

**_Bam!_**

And hit the ground again, everything shook that Shikmaru, Uki and the doll lost their balanced and fell. When the doll fell, it let go of it's jutsu and Shikamaru was free again, Uki is still attacking Ino's spirit. Shikamaru quickly got up and ran up to her, and grab hold of her, "Ino! Get out of there now!" he yelled for her inside. Ino heard him inside Uki's body as she managed to release her jutsu and retreat back into her body. Uki was back to herself until Shikamaru hit her pressure point and knock her out. Choji went back to him normal form after he pushed the giant doll down, then he noticed the giant doll shrunk back to it's doll sized self. Now that Uki's knocked out, her jutsus are released and worn out. Shikamaru picked up the little girl in his arms as Ino ran up to them, **_"For a little girl, she sure is heavy,"_** he thought deeply. He turned to Ino,

"You okay Ino?" he asked,

"Yeah, though this little girl has two spirits in her," Ino said as Choji appeared with the doll with him.

"Well for all I know, that's the first and last time I'll ever play with a doll," Choji said while looking at the doll.

Then Shikamaru gave Uki to Ino, "Take her to the Anbu's back in the village," he said to Ino, "Hey! What about me? I want to help too, I mean we are the InoShikaCho," Ino said while holding the unconscious Uki. "There are some things I wanted to fill you in but me and Choji promised Naruto and the others we'll catch up to them," Shikamaru said to her as Choji gave the doll back to the little girl. "Thanks for your help by the way, but for right now you take this little girl to the Anbu's back to the village until further notice," Shikamaru said.

"But I want to help you on your mission, I want to save Sakura too," Ino said to him and Choji,

"Trust us Ino, we don't want you to get involve with those thugs," Choji said,

"And judging from this girl's technique, the other's are a lot stronger than we thought," Shikamaru explained. Ino became silent as Shikamaru continues, "So it would be better if you head back to the village for your own safety," Ino looked to Uki for the moment and back to him and Choji, she nod her head.

"Alright then, come on Choji the others might need our help," Shikamaru said then made the head start, "Right," Choji said and followed him. Ino was left alone with Uki in her arms, she looked at her again as she remembered the other little girl said to her when she entered Uki's body. **_"What is it that the little girl tried to warn me about?"_ **Ino thought then left the area and head back to the village with Uki with her.

**Neji and Shino vs. the Zutaro brothers…**

Myazo prepared another arrow shot at Neji, Neji stood in position as he waits for another one of Myazo's attack. Then Myazo shot his green ice-arrow at Neji again, then it multiple into another bunch of arrows again as they all closing in on Neji. Then Neji quickly got into his fighting stance, 'the Hyuga stance, as he focused his chakra with his Byakugan to…

"8-Trigram Palm Rotation," he said as he started spinning around in a fast speed and the increase of his chakra. As he spun, the ice-arrows hit the shield of his chakra that Neji was unharmed and destroyed Myazo's arrows once again. Myazo watched as Neji destroyed his multi-ice-arrows,

**_"He deflected my arrows with the defense of his chakra… it would appears I merely misjudge this one,"_** he thought as he watched Neji from above. After the ice-arrows were destroyed, he saw the spinning of Neji's chakra disappeared and… found out that Neji disappeared as well.

**_"Where did he disappear to?"_** Myazo thought as he looked around him, but couldn't find him or sense his presence… until… Neji reappeared in front of him in his 'Hyuga stance' as he once again gathered his chakra along with his Byakugan as he used…

"8-Trigram 64 Palms," he said then he started using 'Gentle Fist' on Myazo's front with much speed and strength.

"2 Palms!" he hit Myazo as he started backing away,

"4 Palms!" he hit him more and made him hit the tree behind him,

"8 Palms!" he hit him with more speed,

"16 Palms!" he hit him with more strength,

"32 Palms!" he hit him hard enough for him to break through the tree behind him,

"64 Palms!" he hit Myazo with full force that made Myazo…

**_Break!!_**

Broke through the tree branch behind, he fell and hit the ground very hard. Neji was panting as he nearly used up all his chakra then he jumped off the tree and landed back on the ground. He walked up to him to see if he took him out, just when he took one last step he suddenly became stun, as if his body became frozen.

**_"What's going on?"_** Neji thought as he spotted some cold mist around him, and he spotted a figure appeared in the mist… it was Myazo, as he stood back on his feet… unharmed… and looking straight at Neji.

**_"How is it possible? I blocked his entire chakra network, how could he survive my attack?"_ **Neji thought deeply as Myazo stepped out of the cold mist.

"You made an impressive move there, but unfortunately you're just like everyone else who tried to take me out in a counter-attack. Whenever they tried to terminate me or block out my chakra, I always decrease my body temperature below zero so that not only I become numb but also keep my chakra point safe from any their attacks. So no matter how much you throw at me, you won't go anywhere near my chakra points or harm me," Myazo explained as Neji stood still, **_"His chakras are incredible… he's hardly even human at all,"_** he thought deeply.

"I can say that you are different than the other ninjas I encountered, so I decided to put you to a test; to see how long you can keep up while the temperature is dropping," Myazo said as he exhaled more cold air and his paled green eyes became paler. Neji noticed the cold mist is getting thicker and the temperature is starting to drop, and he is beginning to feel cold as he now exhaled some cold air. "Now let's see if you can defeat me through this, it's only a matter of time before you might freeze to death," Myazo said as he walked back into the mist and disappeared,_ **"Shit,"** _Neji thought as he is now surrounded by cold mist; the temperature continues to drop and he is getting colder by the second.

Shino and Fuzca are trapped inside the cobwebs around them, and they're fighting off with a help from their bugs. Shino kept on calling out his beetles to swarm around Fuzca but Fuzca used his instinct as he crawled on his web and dodge all of them, and then called out his spiders to get rid of the swarms. Most of the beetle survived and some of the beetles got eaten, Fuzca glanced at Shino as he is upside down again,

"There's no point of defeating the upper level of the food chain, your beetles don't have what it takes to overcome my spiders," he said to him. **_"I'm not sure how long I can keep up with this guy,"_** Shino thought as more of his beetles are crawling all over his hands and around his face.

**_"Let's see how he can handle this,"_** Fuzca thought, as he gathered his chakra within the cobwebs and his paled gray eyes became paler, **_"Summoning jutsu,"_** he thought as he spread his chakra throughout his cobwebs. Then Shino noticed some movements beneath the cobwebs in front of him, and sensed some strange presence also, so he stood in his position as he waits for something to come out. Then it did as he saw… some huge spiders coming out of the cobwebs, they're all big enough to kill lions, tigers, bears… even humans. Shino saw them as they appeared at the front and behind, above and below, and left and right; he became surrounded by huge spiders. Then he spotted one of the spiders made the first strike as it shoot out a string of web at him. Shino was able to dodge it… except that after the string slowly float down on the branch near his feet and touched it, the string started to burn through the branch. Shino quickly moved his feet, as the string cut through part of the branch.

"Acid web strings," Shino discovered as he looked at the burnt mark of the branch as it show some smoke. "That's right…" Shino quickly looked up at Fuzca as his upside down in Spider-man style, "These spiders are confined with chemical substance of acid through their webs, so not only they'll catch their prey in a instant but to also make sure they die quickly before they eat them. And since I forgot to feed them, I consider you as their main dish for dinner," he said to him as the huge spiders are moving closer to Shino. Some of them kept shooting more acid web strings at him, but Shino kept dodging them; though some of them burn the tip of his right shoulder jacket, along with his knee pants, and the lower side of his left stomach jacket. The spiders are getting closer to him as he is in the center,

"There's no way I'll be served in their menus," Shino said deeply as he thought of a way to escape from them.

**Kilala vs. the Leaf ninjas… **

Kiba and Arkamaru (Kiba) both charge at Kilala as she stood in her position. Kiba made the first strike as he swung his claw at her face, but Kilala quickly turned her body on the left and dodged his attack. Then Arkamaru (Kiba) swung his claw at her, but Kilala quickly turned her body on the right and dodged his attack as she did on Kiba. They both kept swinging their claw and their kicks at her, but Kilala kept moving her body, ducked, flipped, and cartwheeled dodging their attack. They couldn't even touch her as she dodged all of their attacks,

"What gives? They didn't lay a scratch on her," Naruto said as he, Sasuke and Lee watched them.

"For some reason, she can sense their attacks and hear their movements, so she dodged them as she is preventing them to touch her," Lee explained,

"And even without a sight, she knows what will happen before it even happened… so I was able figure that she can predict our movements before we make them, that's how she was able to find the real Naruto," Sasuke explained.

**_"Dammit,"_** Naruto thought as he and the others kept watching Kiba and Arkamaru trying to attack Kilala. Then Kiba and Arkamaru (Kiba) charge her in separate ways, they both jumped at the same time. Arkamaru (Kiba) was the first to strike her but Kilala quickly grabbed his right wrist and arm, turned and threw him at Kiba. They both hit each other and hit the ground away from Kilala, she stood back to her position,

"I fought better ninjas than you two, even as you both work together as man and beast, it is pointless to encounter me since I can predict every move you throw at me," Kilala said to them. Kiba and Arkamaru (Kiba) got back on their feet and glare at her again, "So you actually think we don't have what it takes huh? Well let's see how you can dodge this!" Kiba said as he and Arkamaru (Kiba) charge at her once again, and…

"Fang over Fang!" he said as he and Arkamaru started spinning and full speed and aiming at Kilala with full force of their chakra. They were able to hit her… until Kilala quickly stuck out both her hands and stopped their attack as they spin on both her palms; Kilala grabbed hold as some smoke appeared on her palms. Just as she grabbed hold of them, Kiba and Arkamaru (Kiba) were no longer spinning as there are now grabbed by their collars, their feet are above the ground and Kilala looked at them with her paled gold eyes.

"Not even close," she said to them and then…

**_Bam!_**

She gave them a head-butt on eachother and then tossed them over her as they flew back to the others. As Kiba and Arkamaru (Kiba) both hit the ground, Arkamaru went back to his regular form as their food pill has ran out.

"Kiba," Naruto said as he and Lee helped Kiba and Arkamaru up, Kiba was rubbing his head after that head-butt he and Arkamaru got, "She's a tough one to beat," Kiba said as Arkamaru whimpered a bit.

"Who else wants to challenge me…?" Kilala asked as she stood with her back turned, they all looked at her, "How about you? The one with the red eyes," she said then Naruto, Lee, Kiba and Arkamaru turned to Sasuke as they all know she's talking about him. Sasuke stood in his fighting stance, "I don't see any problem with that," he said as he pulled out some shuriken.

**_"As far as I analyzed her movement, I can take her out from behind if I make her unbalance. Though I have to make it unexpected even she won't predict it,"_** Sasuke thought then… disappeared. Then reappeared from above and threw some shuriken at Kilala, though Kilala jumped and dodged them and then… Sasuke appeared behind her as he threw a kick at her. Kilala defended herself as she blocked his attack, just as Sasuke jumped away from he smirked as he tied a visible strings around both her wrist. Kilala felt the strings on her as Sasuke pulled it tight then he gathered up his chakra and formed another Tiger hand sign to…

"Fire Style; Fireball jutsu!" he said as he blew out a huge amount of fireball and it aim straight at Kilala. She didn't move a muscle as the fireball hit her. After Sasuke used his secret technique he watched as the fire burns as he waits for something to happen; and it did. Kilala appeared out of the fire in fast speed, and close in front of Sasuke, she threw a huge quick punch on his stomach from down under then hit his jaw with her low end of her palm, jumped and kicked him in the stomach with a side-thrust real hard. Sasuke flew to the opposite direction and hit the ground hurt,

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled,

"No!" Lee said as they watched them.

Just as Kilala land on her feet again, she turned her body at Sasuke as he lies on the ground,

"How pathetic," she said to him…until…

**_Poof!_**

A log appeared, "A Substitution jutsu," Kilala said as she found out it was a log she beat up… and the log has a paper bomb on it; already light up! Kilala quickly jumped away from it when…

**_Boom!_**

The log exploded but Kilala was able to get away from it, until…

"Demon Windmill Shuriken!" she heard Sasuke voice as he threw his windmill shuriken at her. As Kilala land back on the ground, she sensed the windmill shuriken spinning right towards her. She clutched her right fist and…

**_Smash!_**

She smacked the windmill shuriken to pieces at one hit, and then…

"There…" Sasuke appeared in front of her with his Sharingan still activated, as he threw more shurikens along with kunais at her; and she's wide open. They all hit Kilala at the front and she hit a tree behind her.

"He got her," Kiba said,

"Ruff!" Arkamaru barked,

"Way to go Sasuke," Naruto yelled at him.

"Hn," Sasuke respond as he made a smirk on his face, **_"Just as I planned,"_** he thought… until… "Eh!" he smirked was gone as he's now surprised; so does Naruto and the other's as they all turned to… her. Kilala was back on her feet… with shurikens still plunged on her front, yet she didn't respond to the pain or agony whatsoever. She started walking towards Sasuke while plunging out some shurikens and kunais off her stomach, shoulders, waist, sides, even her heart.

"What the hell?!" Kiba said, as he became shocked, Arkamaru whimpers again,

"How is it possible? How could she survive that attack?" Lee said, as he became shock himself, Naruto didn't say anything as he's beyond shocked after what he is seeing,

**_"She's not even human,"_** he thought deeply as he now became stun. Sasuke became stun as well, that his plan has been turned down,

**_"What is she…?"_** he thought as he remembered one of the thugs from earlier…

**Flashback…**

_**"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee said as he aimed it at Ibate,**_

_**KICK! **_

_**Lee kicked him right to the neck… it caught him, Naruto, Sasuke and everyone else by surprise. Ibate just stood as Lee kicked his neck, he didn't respond to the pain nor show any expression whatsoever.**_

_**"H… he didn't bother blocking my attack," Lee thought as he look at him, Ibate looked at him as he grabbed Lee's ankle, "Your attacks have no effect against us," he said as he tighten Lee's ankle.**_

_**"Aaahh!" Lee responded to the pain,**_

_**"As I said from before, we're taking Ms. Haruno to Lord Akeeba," Ibate said then he pulled Lee's ankle and threw Lee back to Naruto and the others, Choji and Shikamaru caught Lee after he was thrown.**_

**Flashback over…**

**_"These thugs are nowhere near humans,"_** Sasuke thought as Kilala plunged out the last of the shuriken off her shoulder. Sasuke analyzed her body where he threw his shurikens and kunais at her, **_"There's no marks or scratches on her anywhere… not even a drop of blood,"_** he thought again. After Kilala pulled out all the weapons off her, she kept walking towards Sasuke,

"You made an impressive move I'll give you that, but nevertheless…" she took her last step then disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke, "You still have a way to go," she said to him. Sasuke quickly turned when she made the first strike, she used one hand to use gentle fist and hit two pressure points his left shoulder and arm. Sasuke try to punch her but Kilala ducked, turned and dodged his attack then used her other hand to gentle fist three pressure points on his right side. The Sasuke quickly jumped away from her… except that she disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke, as she hit five pressure points on his back and…

**_Kick!_**

Kilala kicked him to the stomach and made him flew to the side and hit a tree beside him,

"She's fast," Lee said,

"And a lot stronger than those other three," Kiba said,

"Ruff," Arkamaru barked, and Naruto still didn't say anything as they all just watch them. Sasuke stomach hurt but was able to get back on his feet, he looked back at her as she just stood in her position again,

**_"I'm not sure how I can take her out now,"_** he thought… then suddenly, his Sharingan deactivated. "What?!" he said that his Sharingan somehow deactivated itself, so he gathered a bit of his chakra to reactivate it but he couldn't reactivate it,

"What's doing on? Why can't I reactivate my Sharingan?" he said, then…

"I figure those red eyes of yours helped you see through my abilities and comprehend my prediction. So I decided to hit your pressure points so that your chakra's are block, and make your red eyes disappeared…" Sasuke turned to her as she continues, "And since I hit ten of your pressure points, you won't be doing any of your jutsus or have your red eyes back for at least ten hours," Kilala explained. Sasuke became stun again now that he is in big trouble. Then Kilala disappeared and reappeared in front of Sasuke, and threw a huge on his stomach and made him landed back onto the ground again,

"You leaf ninjas should know when to give up, so instead I'll get rid of you all…" she said then she picked up a kunai from the ground. "Starting with you," she said as she charged him with full speed and stuck the kunai out to plunge him, Sasuke try to defend himself but didn't have time as she an inch in front of him. She was about to go for the kill… until suddenly…

"Leaf Hurricane!" Kilala sensed a kick coming her way, she quickly jumped away from the kick, but not quick enough, as the kick kicked her hand and made her dropped the kunai. She flipped and land on her feet as she sensed someone in front of Sasuke… it was none other than Rock Lee himself as he just stopped her from attacking Sasuke. He got into his fighting stance with his hand stuck out,

"I case you have forgotten, you never get a chance to challenge me; Rock Lee, the handsomeness devil of the Leaf village," he said as Sasuke got back on his feet. Kilala stood back up but didn't say anything, **_"This one has the same speed as mine… but I can hardly predict his movement,"_** she thought.

Lee turned to Sasuke,

"Sasuke, you, Naruto and Kiba must go after the other thugs," he whispered,

"But what about you?" Sasuke whispered back,

"I'll stay and fight this one," Lee answered as he turned back to Kilala.

"We still have a mission to continue, you all go on ahead, I'll be with guys as soon as I can," Lee said to him. Sasuke didn't say anything but somehow agreed with him about continuing the mission, so he turned to Naruto and Kiba signaling them to move out. He made the first head start then Lee and Naruto started following him, they were about to leave the area… until Kilala disappeared and reappeared in front of them, blocking their way,

"Nobody's going anywhere," she said to them. Then Lee disappeared and reappeared behind Kilala, as he threw another kick at her, Kilala didn't have time to dodge it so she blocked. After that Lee quickly threw a punch on her stomach and made her hit a tree behind her, he turned to the others,

"Go on now, I'll catch you up," he said then went back to his fighting stance.

"Hn," Sasuke respond then left, then Kiba and Arkamaru followed him,

"Good luck Bushy-Brow," Naruto said then followed the others as they left the area, leaving Lee alone with Kilala.

**Sakura's mind…**

Sakura found herself sitting in a canal, wearing the same red shirt, black top, gloves and bow. She looked around and saw separate forest, and the canal was moving by a man, **_"Now where am I?"_** she said,**_"You're in your mind again…"_ **Sakura quickly turned, and saw Ibate sitting right in front of her.

**_"Except that we're in a canal that carries us through a small river,"_** he said,

**_"What's with you people anyway? First you kidnapped me and took me away from my home, then you tried to seduce, and now you're keeping me away from my friends,"_ **Sakura said to him as she's upset than before. Ibate didn't say anything as he touched the water as the man moving the canal,

**_"We're only doing this for your own good… and it was an order from Lord Akeeba,"_** Ibate said as he turned back to her.

**_"I still don't get why I'm involve in this, and you people won't keep me away from my friends, you don't know them at all!"_ **Sakura said as she stood on the canal; keeping her balance. Ibate just glance at her, **_"Now that's when you're wrong Ms. Haruno, we know much about everyone in your village then you think. When it comes of having no emotions, you'll experience much knowledge on everything; you'll be able to know more history than others, provide other skills and jutsus, and mostly you can show much potential than you could possibly imagine,"_** he explained. Sakura became silent after that, then the canal was move to land,

**_"There's no point of going back from once you came, now that you're with us…"_** Ibate said then he got down on one knee and held her hand, as if he's proposing to her, **_"So forget everyone who are dear to you, and stay with us. As far as I can tell… even you don't want to be weak anymore,"_** he said and then plant a kiss on her hand, Sakura didn't say anything as she clutches her other hand. She never been so confuse in her life, she wanted to become strong so she wouldn't be a burden anymore; yet she couldn't abandon her friends and her home.

Sakura felt tears flowing in her eyes, she shook her head and she took her hand away from Ibate's,_ **"I'll never abandon my friends or my home, and there's nothing you people will do or say to ever change that!"**_ she yelled at him. Then she quickly got off the canal and got on land, she ran into the forest never looking back. Ibate stood up to the canal as he watched her leave,

**_"We won't Ms. Haruno... but he will,"_** he said.

**To be continued…**

**Attention all readers! Attention all readers! I've been informed that I'm going on a road trip for four days and won't be back until next week. I just want to let all of you know, I might not update one of my stories very soon. I apologize for the news and I hope you'll forgive me for it. Alright then… so I hope you like this update and I promise I'll update another chapter very soon. Review me about this while I'm gone. See ya! Babykat out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it took me long to update this, I was busy doing work, I just moved to an apartment, and I traveled from Virginia to all the way to South Carolina for my summer vacation. So I wish to apologize to you all for not updating this so soon, I hope you enjoy this chapter as a token for my apology; here you go.**

**harunosakua****; Once you read along the story, you might find out who he is, and thanks for your review. **

**Daughter of Unending Darkness****; Thanks for your review and sorry it took me so long to update it. **

**kinara-chan****; I'm sorry I kept you in suspense, but I'm sure this chapter will make it all better. **

**MiakaMemo; Thanks for your review and I hope you like this chapter better.**

**Ibate's are one tough team to beat; since Shino and Neji are still facing the Zukato brothers, Myazo and Fuzca, and Rock Lee is now facing Kilala. Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are the only ones left of chasing after Ibate and Dujobe to rescue Sakura. Ibate tries to convince Sakura to leave everything behind, but she refuses as she never give up her friends, family and everything else that matters to her. So instead of trying to talk through to her, Ibate decided to leave her to…**

**Shino vs. Fuzca…**

Shino is still surrounded by Fuzca's huge spiders as they're coming right at him, Fuzca watched as he still hanging upside down. Just as the huge spiders are about to enjoy their feast, Shino think fast as his beetles came out of his sleeves again and swarm around him, as he used Bug Jar Technique. The spiders couldn't go through them as some of them got hit and some back away, Fuzca saw them, _**"So he used his beetles as his barrier shield against my spiders… I nearly underestimate him,"**_ he thought as he watched his spiders being pushed and stepped away from the beetles. Then suddenly…

The beetles form a counter-attack on them as they swarm a strike at the huge spiders in separate ways, as some flew to the opposite direction and the others were killed. After that, the beetle swarm back to regroup, but somehow… they all went into a hole through the webs. Fuzca saw them went inside the hole, _**"So he was able to cut through the cobwebs in order to escape… no matter, he won't get away so easy,"** _he thought. Then he let go of the webs as he fell straight into the hole, hunting down Shino.

**Neji vs. Myazo…**

Neji is in the middle of the cold green misty fog as the temperature is dropping and he's colder every minute. _**"Where is he…? I can't see him through this mist, even with my Byakugan,"** _he thought as exhaled more cold air and his skin are beginning to feel numb. _"You won't be able to find me so easy…" _Neji look around as he heard Myazo's voice, but couldn't find him through the fog, _"I expand my chakra within each mist so that you won't sense my presence anywhere; especially with those eyes of yours," _Myazo said as Neji try to search for him with his Byakugan still activated. Then suddenly… Neji sensed an ice-arrow been shot and coming from behind, he quickly turned and dodged it; except, it cut his left shoulder.

"Urgh!" Neji responded to the pain as his shoulder started to bleed, _"You're quick, but not quick enough,"_ Neji heard Myazo's voice again as he exhaled more cold air. _**"I have to find him and quick,"** _Neji thought then he started running through the misty fog, and disappeared.

**Rock Lee vs. Kilala…**

They both faced each other as Lee is in his fighting stance and Kilala stood at her place,

"I may not know much about your abilities, but I do know that we both have the same amount of taijutsu with an increase level within our chakras," Lee said.

"I may not see your appearance nor sense your presence so quickly, but it doesn't mean you're capable of defeating me," Kilala said.

"We'll see about that!" Lee said as he charged her with his amount of speed, he pulled out his shurikens and threw them at her. Kilala sensed the shurikens coming right at her, so she quickly moved from her place and dodge them without any scratch on her, then Lee jumped and…

"Leaf Hurricane!" he said as he swung another kick at her. After Kilala dodged the shurikens, she quickly used her arm to use inside block to block Lee's kick then she used her roundhouse kick to target him. Lee flipped backwards and dodged her kick as she hit the tree that was behind him; until she cut it and knocked it to the ground, _**"She's strong,"** _Lee thought as he landed back on the ground. Kilala stood back to her position, "Like I said, you are not capable of defeating me," she said then… she disappeared, Lee shrugged as she vanished. He looked around him to see if she's behind him, beside him, or…

"Eh!" Lee replied as he spotted a shadow below him… as a figure is coming from above! He quickly looked up and saw Kilala coming right at him with an axe kick, with full force. Lee quickly moved away and dodged her attack when…

__

**BAM!**

Kilala kicked the ground very hard, showing cracks and a large crater on it. Lee was surprised of her strength as he back on his feet again, Kilala slowly went back to her position as she turned her body towards Lee.

"I can sense that you've witness part of my ability, I have you know that I'm not that easy to be counter with, and I have you know that you Leaf ninjas won't be able to save Ms. Haruno in time. She'll become one of us and there's nothing you can do about it," she said then she used her amount of taijutsu, and charge at Lee with her balled up punch. Lee saw her coming with a punch, so he quickly used his amount of taijutsu once more to disappear and dodge her attack again. As Kilala punched another tree, she broke through it and knocked it down to the ground, like she did to the first tree. Lee reappeared behind her with another 'Leaf Hurricane', but Kilala sensed his attack as she quickly turned and, not only stopped his attack but, grabbed his ankle like Ibate did from before. She spun him around three times and threw him over to where the other trees are. After Lee was thrown, he defended himself as he hit through some trees through some part of the forest. _**"Let's see how he can fight through darkness,"** _Kilala thought as her paled gold eyes turned paler again, made a few hand-signs to gather her chakra to form a genjutsu,

**_"Shadow Darkness Barrier," _**she thought as her shadow stretched and spread out, making everything dark again.

**Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru…**

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are still jumping through the forest, chasing after Ibate and Dujobe to rescue Sakura.

"The other two thugs are the only ones left," Kiba said,

"Bark!," Arkamaru barked,

"That won't be any good," Sasuke said,

"What are you saying? There's two of them and three of us, we can take them out easy and rescue Sakura," Naruto said.

"In case you have forgotten, they're nowhere near normal and nothing harms them whatever we threw a them, for all I know those last two are much stronger than those other four we faced," Sasuke explained, Naruto and Kiba nearly forgotten how those kids are. Then Sasuke said, "Besides, that blind girl blocked my chakra points so I can't use any of my jutsus nor reactivate my Sharingan for at least… 7 hours, I'm useless at the moment."

"Also the sun is going down," Kiba said as he saw some darkness approaching,

"Well no matter, we're still need to go after those thugs," Naruto said, _**"And be able to save Sakura,"** _he thought as he, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru continue jumping through the forest going after the other thugs.

**Ibate, Dujobe, and Sakura…**

Ibate and Dujobe are still resting, as Dujobe stood keeping a look out for their comrades or the Leaf ninjas. Ibate is still in Sakura's mind as she's still inside the cocoon, his paled blue eyes are still paler as he had his hand placed on the cocoon.

**Sakura's mind…**

After Sakura ran away from Ibate, she found herself in a forest garden as it shows many beautiful flowers, butterflies flying by, and birds chirping through the trees. Sakura led a small smile as she walks through the garden, she smelled the sweetness from the flowers and watched the some birds fly away. As the wind blows gently and she walks towards a bridge ahead of her, she stopped as she recognized this bridge as this is where Team 7 meets every time. Then Sakura started walking on the bridge as leaves and flower petals were falling from the trees, just as she went back walking she stopped again as she spotted three people ahead of her; a man and two boys. Sakura took a close look at them as one boy has blonde hair and blue eyes, the other boy has black raven hair and onyx eyes, and the man has light-gray hair and wearing a mask. She smiled as she recognized them,_**"Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei!"** _she said as she's happy to see them again, she started running up to them. Just as she was close to them…

__

**Bump!**

Sakura suddenly bumped into something in the way and fell down,** _"What the…" _**she said as she got back up. She slowly stuck her hand out to find or feel what she ran into, and she did as she felt some wall in her way as it's separating her and her teammates. Sakura couldn't find a way through it and it's too thick to break through, then she discovered her friends turning their back on her and started leaving; as if she doesn't exist. _**"No wait! Don't leave me!" **_she yelled for them, but they didn't hear her as they kept walking away, Sakura felt a bit of her tears flowing in her eyes.** _"Naruto… Sasuke… Kakashi-sensei… COME BACK!" _**she yelled for them again, but they still didn't hear her; and then… they vanished. _**"Eh!"** _Sakura respond after she saw her friends disappeared, and they hardly even know she's there,

**_"You're still thinking about them, are you Ms. Haruno?" _**Sakura heard Ibate's voice as she turned around and saw him as stood at the bridge.**_"That won't do at all since they don't need you anymore,"_ **he said to her, then Sakura glared at him, **_"I don't want to hear anymore from you, just leave me alone," _**she said to him in an anger tone. Just then… Ibate disappeared and reappeared in front of Sakura, Sakura flinched when he came up to her fast, **_"I can't do that, I was given an order from Lord Akeeba to keep an eye on you once he sees you,"_ **he said. Sakura backed away from him,_ **"No! I won't let you take me to him,"**_ she said in rage then she form a fist and…

**_Punch!_**

Punched Ibate to the face real hard… but he still didn't respond to the pain, so Sakura throw another punch at him… until Ibate caught her punch with his right finger and thumb. _**"Now then…"** _he said then he used his finger to press Sakura's pressure point between her knuckles very hard, which… Sakura gasped as she suddenly lost feelings to her legs, she collapsed until Ibate caught her; just like when they first met last night. He picked her up in a bridal style, _**"There is something I want to show you,"** _he said, Sakura just looked at him as he held her in his arms. Then Ibate's paled blue eyes turned paler as some dark shadow below him appeared, he started to sink; Sakura noticed she and Ibate are going down into darkness, _**"What now?"** _she thought as she and Ibate sunk inside the dark shadow as they left the bridge.

**Shino vs. Fuzca…**

Fuzca crawled thrown inside the webs as he hunts down Shino, with an instinct of a spider, the predator must find it's prey before it tries to escape._**"I know he's in here somewhere, I can smell him,"** _Fuzca thought as he continues crawling through the webs.

Shino is somewhere within the webs, hiding from Fuzca or one of his spiders,** _"I have to find a way to defeat this guy… but how?"_** Shino thought then pulled his hand towards him as beetles crawls out of his sleeves. Shino took his time to think before Fuzca or his spiders finds him.

Fuzca crawls through every hole through each cobwebs but no sign of Shino, so called out his spiders all around him to help him find his prey. Spiders crawling out of webs, Tarantulas, Brown Recluses, Black Widows, Huntsmans, Hobos, and other types of deadly spiders crawling everywhere; even out of Fuzca's sleeves, collar, and pants. "Find him," he said to them, then they all crawled through each direction in order to find Shino; about over a million of spiders are hunting him down. **(If I've been hunt down by every deadly spiders from everywhere around me, I'll be terrified and have nightmares about them forever.)** Shino slowly come out of his hiding place as he looks around to see if it's a close and clear. He didn't see Fuzca nor any of his spiders, so he got of the hole and went out to find a way out. Just as he was trying to find a way to escape, he heard something crawling, over a million sounds of crawls coming from everywhere. He turned and saw… over a bunch of spiders crawling right towards him, Shino heard more crawls as he sees more spiders coming out of cobwebs, he was surrounded again. Then suddenly… an acid web string was shot and hit Shino on his left shoulder,

"Argh!" he responded to the pain as the acid burns through his jacket to his shoulder, he placed his hand on it and got down to his knees. The acid kept burn on his skin and make it bleed, he looked up and saw where the acid web string came from, it was those huge spiders again as they crawl from above; and he sees Fuzca as he's now standing upside down.

"I told you there's no point of defeating the upper level of the food chain, my spiders will overcome your beetles no matter how much you try to make it the other way around," he said then he jumped up the his place and land on the ground where Shino is as he still covering his burn, bleeding shoulder. Fuzca walk up to him,

"You're finish, within one minute you are going to become one flesh meal for my friends, and in the meantime Ms. Haruno will soon become one of us," he said. Shino didn't look at him,

"Why is it that you want Sakura to become like you thugs?" he was able to ask, Fuzca stood in front of him,

"Well... since you're going to be eaten, I don't see no problem of telling you. We're taking Ms. Haruno to meet Lord Akeeba so he can take away her emotions," he said,

**_"Her emotions?" _**Shino thought as Fuzca continues.

"So without her emotions, she'll slowly develop a whole new ability within herself and changes will come to her; and within one week, she'll become one of us to set along with Lord Akeeba's plan to revolt for a whole new future." Shino led his eyes through his shed glasses at Fuzca's paled gray eyes,

**_"That explain those eyes," _**he thought, then he notice some of the spiders are crawling all around him. Fuzca crouched down at him,

"Any last words before you become dinner?" he asked,

"Actually, I have some… remember our little fight not too long ago, the one when you try to bite me?" Shino said.

"What about it?" Fuzca asked,

"I have you know that you can't always count on the food chain to see which overcomes what," Shino said, and then…

__

**BAM!(BUZZ!)**

Bugs from the outside flow throughout the webs, and throughout every spider around them, Fuzca got back up as he saw his spiders being encountered by beetles and from the outside. All being killed at once from everywhere,

"I was able to plant a female beetle on you while you were busy trying to eliminate me, since the female drawn out a smell for the male beetles, they attract to that smell right where she is," Shino said as he was able to use his Destruction Bug Host Technique on Fuzca. Fuzca looked at his pants as he spotted the female beetle on him, the swarm of beetles circulate around him as they're attracted to the smell from the female. So at that moment… they all charge at Fuzca, he looked up to them all as they all closing in on him with full force…

__

**BAM!(BUZZ!)**

They got him as they pushed him all the way down, breaking through each cobwebs on the way. Through every cobweb, they were no longer inside webs as they're outside now break through each tree branch all the way down. Then finally…

__

**BAM!!**

The beetles and Fuzca hit the ground very hard, almost made a crater but shows some cracks on the ground. Shino slowly got up and walked towards the hole where the beetles attacked Fuzca, as he walked passed every dead spiders, he looked down and saw the beetles still swarming on the ground, and then… they all spread apart and flew away. After they left, Shino saw Fuzca lying on the ground unconscious, after he was encountered by his beetles, _**"What does he mean by a whole new future ?"**_ he thought as he remembered what Fuzca said to him, then, "Ah!" he murmured as his shoulder kept bleeding and the acid is still burning through each tissue in his skin, "I should get out of here," he said to himself, then he jumped in the hole and finally out of the cobwebs.

**Neji vs. Myazo…**

Neji is still in the green mist as he kept searching for Myazo, the fog is getting thicker and colder each minute. Neji is almost running out of time as he exhaled more cold air and his body temperature is starting to decrease,** _"I'm running out of time, he has to be somewhere in this mist but where?"_** he thought as he's been using his Byakugan to see through every mist; but still no sign of him. Then suddenly… Neji sensed another ice-arrow been shot and coming right behind him, he quickly turned and…

__

**Break!**

He broke it, except…

__

**Stab! Stab! Stab!**

"GAH!" Neji screamed in pain as he felt three more ice-arrows shot him behind his back, he nearly lost balance but was able to stay on his feet, _**"I didn't sense those coming from the other way,"**_ he thought as his back start to bleed and panting for exhaustion and let out more cold air. _**"Now I see what he's doing, with all these mist he makes he's manipulating my focus of my Byakugan,"** _he thought as he finally figureout what Myazo is doing to him. So he deactivated his Byakugan, "Now I know a way to find him," he said to himself as he thought of a plan.

Myazo is somewhere hiding in the mist, and he kept his eyes on Neji. He blew out another ice-arrow and position it with his ice-bow, aim at Neji,** _"Just one more shot, and he's finish,"_** he thought as he gathered his chakra with is ice-arrow, exhaled more cold air, and targeting Neji from behind. "Now," he said as he finally shoot his last ice-arrow at him, with full force and going for the kill; but little did he know, as the ice-arrow is closing in on Neji, Neji turned his head and saw the arrow closing in on him."Found you," he said then… he disappeared, and the arrow missed him. "What's this?!" Myazo said then he somehow sense his presence as he reappeared right beside him, he quickly turned and saw Neji in his Hyuga stance again. "This time I got you," he said as he reactivated his Byakugan and gather his chakra to…

"8 Trigram, 128 Palms," he said as he used Gentle Fist on Myazo once again,

"2 Palms!" he hit in the Myazo's front as he backs away like before,

"4 Palms!" he hit him more as he keeps backing away,

"8 Palms!" he hit him with more speed,

"16 Palms!" he hit him with more strength,

"32 Palms!" he hit him with more speed and strength,

"64 Palms!" he hit him without holding back,

"128 Palms!" he hit with full force and with every bit of his chakra. Then he jumped, spanned, and…

__

**Kick!**

He kicked him to the front very hard, which made Myazo dropped his ice-bow and fly to the opposite direction; hit a bunch of trees from behind, and somehow was out of the green mist. Myazo hit a bunch of trees in the forest as he's been piled up by broken and torn down trees on the ground, unconscious. After that, the green misty fog suddenly lift as it started to disappear, Neji deactivate his Byakugan again as he was no longer in the cold mist as the temperature went back to normal and everything is clear. Neji panted as he nearly used up all his chakra though he still feels cold after being in the cold fog for so long, "It took me awhile, but…" he started losing his vision and his balance when a step, "I was able… to… get him," he said as he became very tired and somehow coming down with something. Then… he fell to the ground unconscious, his back continues to bleed and he's completely worn out.

Shino landed on the ground as he still sees Fuzca still lying down unconscious, then he turned and he saw some trees been torn down, broken, and piled up. He also saw that paled green haired boy in the pile unconscious, Fuzca's twin, Myazo, then Shino turned to an open area as he spotted Neji on the ground unconscious too, but mostly hurt. "Neji," he said, but he still mumbles through the pain on his shoulder, Shino walked up to Neji to help him as the Zukato brothers lay unconscious and defeated.

**Lee vs. Kilala…**

Lee found himself in darkness again, he can't see anything around him,** _"Not this again,"_** Lee thought then…

__

**Punch!**

He felt something punched him in the face, "What the…" he said as he try find what hit until…

__

**Double-Punch! Kick!**

Lee was punched to the face twice and got kicked to the stomach, "Urgh," Lee responding to the pain, and then…

__

**Kick!!**

He was kicked to the face but his time from the under jaw, he flew to the opposite direction and land on the ground hurt. Lee coughed off blood in his mouth as he tries to get back up, _"You don't have what it takes,"_ he heard Kilala's voice but couldn't see her, _"I figure once I used my Shadow Darkness Barrier, you can't see me since I can't see you."_ Lee got back on his feet but…

__

**Punch! Kick! Double-Punch! Kick!!**

Lee was punched in the face, kicked to the stomach, double-punched to the face again, and kicked to the chest which made him fly to another opposite direction and hit the ground hurt again. _"I also figure that we both show the same amount of speed of taijutsu when everything is light, but in here I comprehend more speed then you,"_ she said then Lee felt something/someone grab his ankle again, as he was pulled and thrown to a different direction. He somehow hit something that felt like a tree, but still couldn't see it, _"You maybe fast when you see, but in here you're just slow,"_ Kilala said as Lee slowly got back up again. _**"She's right, I can't see through this darkness nor see where she throws her attack at me, I have to find a way to find her, but how?"**_ Lee said as he pants and spit out more blood in his mouth. He's figuring out a way to find Kilala before he's done for.

**Sakura's mind…**

Ibate and Sakura appeared at lake, where there's a waterfall, it's nighttime and it shows a crescent moon in the sky. Ibate carried Sakura in his arms towards the lake, then he gently placed her on the ground near the water, Sakura looked at the lake as it shows it's beauty, the waterfall reflecting a rainbow, and fireflies flying through the dark.

**_"Where are we?"_ **she asked,

**_"We're in your conscience, where it shows the reflection of what's right and what's wrong," _**Ibate answered. Sakura looked at the water as she saw her reflection, except her reflection shows her original self with her head-protector, wearing red, and still a ninja. **_"That's me,"_** she said, then Ibate crouch down to the water and placed his index finger on it, causing ripples through the lake,_ **"Was you,"**_ he said. As the ripple of the water rippled through Sakura's reflection, that Sakura no longer sees her reflection of herself, she turned to Ibate,_ **"Hey! What are doing?"** _she said in a bit of an anger tone. **_"Showing the real truth about your life,"_** Ibate said as the water kept rippling as it ripple to the center of the lake, **_"Watch,"_ **he said as Sakura turned to the center of the lake. As they saw… some parts of water floating in the air, circulating and transforming in a different form. It formed a human-figure, a young female with long blonde hair in a pony-tail, blue eyes and wearing purple clothes. Sakura became stun as she who it is, **_"Ino,"_ **she whispered as she never forgets her best friend and rival's face,

**_"Ms. Yamanaka, from the Yamanaka clan where she form unique abilities of controlling minds on others and enemies,"_ **Ibate explained then another part of the water floats in the air, circulating and transforming another form. Another human-figure, also a young female but with short dark indigo hair, very light lavender eyes, and look very shy. **_"Hinata,"_** Sakura said, **_"Ms. Hyuga, from the famous Hyuga clan where her family carries the Kekkei Genkai and possesses the powerful advanced bloodline, the Byakugan,"_ **Ibate explained then two more parts of water floats in the air; circulating and transforming two more human-figures. Both young females, but one is older than the other three as she has blonde hair in four pony-tails, teal eyes and has a big fan on her back; and the other has brown hair in two buns, brown eyes, and wearing a pink top. **_"Tenten and Temari,"_** Sakura thought, **_"These two may not be from a famous clan nor carried the Kekkei Genkai, but they show much unique abilities within their talents, even when it comes battle,"_ **Ibate explained. Then Sakura turned to him and asked,** _"Why are you showing me this?"_** Ibate didn't look at her, _**"I'm showing you that these kunoichi's are well-developed Genins, born with special techniques, and they have teams that needed them,"**_ Ibate said as more parts of water floats in the air, forming more human-figures. This time young males as each two stood beside the four kunoichi's, Sakura nearly shrugged as she recognized all of them; the squad members of Team 8, Shino, Hinata, Kiba and Arkamaru; Team 10, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji; Team Gai, Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee; even the Sand village, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. Then more parts of water floats and form three more figures of two men and a woman; Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai. Sakura became speechless when she saw all the rookies and their sensei's again,

**_"These teams are very gifted and obtained special abilities,"_ **Ibate said then the last three parts of water floats in the air and formed the last three figures. A man and two young boys as the man is wearing a mask, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and the other boy with raven hair and onyx eyes. Sakura became more speechless as she saw Team 7 once again, she wanted to reach out for them to let them know how much they mean to her. Then Ibate said,_ **"This team obtained much greater gift that you'll never have, and they never needed you,"** _Sakura turned back to him,**_"That's not true, they always needed me, I'm their teammate,"_ **she said in a different tone. Ibate slowly turned to her,**_"They just pity you, only because they need a third member in the squad to do some training and go to missions; they never really wanted you in the first place,"_ **he explained. **_"I don't believe you! You don't know anything about them!"_ **Sakura said as she looked away from him,**_"As the matter a fact, I do,"_ **Ibate said as he slowly turned back at Team 7 as the other teams suddenly… formed back into water and back in the lake.

Team 7 are the only ones left standing, Ibate started explaining again,** _"Kakashi Hatake, a former Jounin of squad 7, and was also known as the Legendary Copycat Ninja since he possesses the Sharingan eye…"_** Sakura didn't say anything as he continues, _**"Since the Sharingan is also the bloodline of the Kekkei Genkai, from the famous Uchiha clan where Sasuke Uchiha also possesses it's ability. I also know your deep feelings for him,"**_ Sakura shrugged when he mention about her feelings for Sasuke,** _"As you have forgotten, he was never be interested in you; he always find you the weakest in the team, you don't show much combat in battle, you always get in the way, you never train much… and he also finds you annoying,"_** Ibate said. That's when Sakura made a small gasped he said the word 'annoying', that was the exact same word Sasuke always said to her because he never likes her… and he never will. Ibate continues,** _"He's only interested in his goals of killing his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, and restore his clan. However, he finds Naruto Uzamaki a worthy opponent for his strategy, even though he's a vessel to that Nine-Tailed Fox demon sealed inside him,"_ **now Sakura became shocked as he knows about the Nine-Tailed Fox.** _"Even with that demon inside him, he can overcome much incredible strategy and much powerful skills; the squad members of Team 7 are very powerful and each born with a unique gift,"_ **Ibate slowly turned back to Sakura as she still sat with her hands squeezing both her arms, having her mind filled with questions and thoughts all over.** _"Only three of them except you Ms. Haruno, you were never born in a famous clan, carried any bloodline of the Kekkei Genkai, or any unique ability like everyone else… because your emotions stirs in the way, and it's the only reason why you can't become strong. I know that… you know that… everyone knows that… no matter what you do, no matter how much you tried, no matter how far you'll ever get, your emotions will always. Make. You. Weak."_** Ibate said then…

Sakura burst out with tears as it overflows in her eyes, pouring out her sadness of everything she's been through. _**"It's true… everything he said is true…"**_ she thought as she covered her face with her hands, concealing her face of shame, _**"I've always been the weakest in the team, I never was strong enough to everyone. I always get in the way, cry and beg, and always let everyone down… I'm useless and pathetic, and I always will be,"**_ she thought deeply as she shed more tears of sadness and shame. Ibate watched her cry as he finally pulled his index finger out of the water, which cause Team 7 to form back into water again and went back into the lake. He got up and walked towards Sakura as she still weeps with her hands still covering her face, as he stood beside her he crouched back down and pulled her against him; he held her in his arms. Sakura didn't bother trying to push him away this time because she still feels the pain flowing through her heart, and it's too painful to her. Ibate slowly hugs her to comfort her as she shed her tears on him, even in her mind he knows a giving her a hug is a way to comfort her. Sakura slowly stop weeping, as she's being comfort, though her tears kept falling down her cheeks,

**_"There's still hope yet to come to you Ms. Haruno, there is a way for you to become strong,"_ **Ibate said as he still has her in his mind, Sakura slowly look up to him with tears flowing in her eyes. **_"The only way that you'll never be weak again is by Lord Akeeba, he will take away all your emotions so you will never suffer the pain and heartache ever again…"_** Sakura became silent as he slowly let her off the ground and on her feet; she didn't take her eyes off of his paled blue eyes as he continues. **_"All you need to say is 'I don't want to be weak anymore', and then Lord Akeeba will take away your emotions,"_** Ibate said then he place his hand on her cheek, and wiped her tear with his thumb. _**"With all your emotions gone, you will never feel any pain, heartache, happiness, sadness, anger, confusion, loneliness, hatred… or love,"** _he said then… he showed her a blue rose as it came between them. Sakura saw the blue rose as she made the same expression when she first saw the red rose, she looked as Ibate again slowly led his face near hers, as they lips are almost close._ **"I promise you Ms. Haruno, once you say those words, everything is going to be okay,"**_ he said softly towards her lips. Sakura glanced at his handsome face as he slowly led his lips towards hers,_ **"I… I don… I don't…"** _Sakura couldn't speak as his lips is about to touch hers… until…

**_"Ibate," _**another voice said from the outside world interrupted.

**Outside world…**

Ibate was out of Sakura's mind again as he turned to Dujobe, "What is it?" he asked, "I sensed the Leaf ninjas coming this way, only three of them this time," Dujobe answered. Then Ibate grabbed the cocoon and hand it over to Dujobe to carry it again, "We must leave and reach to the mountains at once," he said then he led the way again, Dujobe followed him while carrying the cocoon again.

**Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru…**

It was getting dark as Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are still jumping through the forest, chasing after the other thugs.

"They're moving up ahead, and somehow heading towards the mountains," Kiba said,

"Bark!" Arkamaru barked,

"Alright then, we just keep moving and try to catch up to them," Sasuke said,** _"And hopefully have enough time to reactivate my Sharigan,"_** he thought. Naruto didn't say anything as he and the other continue chasing after the other thugs,

**_"I won't let them take away Sakura,"_ **he thought as he and his friends are continuing their mission.

**Further away through the forest, between the mountains…**

Standing on top of one of the mountains, Akeeba waits for the return of his squad with their new member. He made an evil smirk on his face and chuckles evilly, "I know exactly what to do to her… and it's going to be perfect," he said, and chuckles evilly again; but a little louder. He waits for his squad to retrieve their new member to him, and once he meets her, he's going to steal her…

**To be continued…**

**It took me forever but I'm finally finished, I hope you like it. Review to me about it as I try to update the other chapter; or the other chapters on 'Heart of the Cherry Blossom', 'Get You Back', and the new story, 'Desire'. See you later!**

**Questions?**

**Will Lee ever defeat Kilala?**

**Do you think that Naruto and his friends will save Sakura before she meets Akeeba?**

**Who's the strongest in Ibate's team?**

**Name the members of Ibate's team, and his/her ability?**

**What is it that Akeeba's plan of making a whole new future means?**

**Is Sakura going to accept her emotions or will she have them taken away by Lord Akeeba?**


	7. Chapter 7

**I see that some of you liked the last chapter so far, and you really want to know what happen next. Well, this chapter will stir things up a bit, enjoy.**

**MiakaMemo****; I'm glad you liked it, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**King Nintendo; Thank you for your answer.**

**BloodxMoonxNightmare****; Thank you for your answer, and opinion.**

**harunosakua****; Thanks for your review. **

**Dangerously Emerald****; Whoa! You're the first reader who reviewed each of every chapter. I hope you might like this chapter I updated.**

**The Zukato are defeated, though Shino and Neji are seriously injured. Lee is trapped in Kilala's genjutsu as she's beating him to a pulp. Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are chasing after Ibate and Dujobe to retrieve Sakura as they're heading towards the mountains. Where Lord Akeeba is. Though, there's going to be some major problems when… **

**Lee vs. Kilala…**

Lee is still trapped inside Kilala's genjutsu as she still beating him from anywhere at any time. Lee kept defending himself while he's being punched and kicked, _**"No matter what I do, she keep going and going… should I use that pill Gai-sensei gave me?"**_ he thought, then he felt another punch to the stomach and a kick under his jaw. He flew and landed on his back, _"You can't keep up with me, because in a few minutes you're history,"_ he heard Kilala's voice again as he's getting back up, **_"Seems like there's no other choice… but to use that pill, otherwise, I might lose my life,"_** he thought after he's back on his feet again. He dug through his bag and pull out a dark-brown pill, **_"I know that Gai-sensei said that I only use this pill for emergency only… But when it comes to anyone who kidnaps my youthful flower, I must use the power of youth in order to win for I am Rock Lee, the handsomest devil of the Leaf village and the greatest ninja has ever known,"_** he thought loudly. Then at that moment, Lee ate the pill and swallowed it, after that… he suddenly felt the pill kicking in as the inside of his body starting to…

Somewhere through the darkness, Kilala sensed Lee's present as she's not too far from him, _**"Now to finish him,"**_ she thought then she charge at him again, as she balled her fist and gathered up her strength to make the final blow right at Lee. Just when she was able to punch him to the face, Lee stopped it with his hand and grabbed hold of her, **_"Did he see me?"_** Kilala thought as she felt his fist in his grasp. Then she heard him… chuckle…

"I don't know what it is I'm holding…" Lee said as he has a grin on his face for some reason, "But I think I FOUND YOU!" he said with much enthusiastic, but in a crazy way, then he threw a punch at Kilala's stomach. Kilala flew into the opposite direction as… her 'Shadow Darkness Barrier' slowly retreats to her again, as Lee is no longer in the darkness anymore. Kilala hit and broke some trees from behind as she finally landed on the ground hard, and in a pile of broken trees. Lee felt a little loopy** (Kind of in a drunk way) **though he was able to keep his balance, even with all the air kicks and punches he's doing, and talk weirdly like, "Is it morning already? Where did the night go? How did I get here?" Kilala removed some trees of her way as she got out of the pile, **_"Even in with my shadow barrier he was able to find me?"_** she thought as she slowly stood back up.

Then Lee spotted her, as she shows no expression, "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to let you… STEAL THE LAST PIECE OF THE RICE-BALL!" he said with much enthusiasm as he charged her with his amount of speed of taijutsu. Kilala defended herself when…

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee yelled as he threw his spin kick at her, but she blocked it with her right arm, then Lee threw a punch at her but she dodged it. Lee attacks her with kicks, punches, and other loopy technique of his, Kilala kept blocking and dodging his attack, even though she's being backed away as he attacks her. **_"His speed is much different than before, I can hardly predict every movement he throws at me,"_** Kilala thought as she kept blocking his punches and kicks. Just when she dodged his punch, she was able to throw a punch at his opening as she punched his to the stomach, he flew to the opposite direction until he hit the ground. She quickly stood to her position, waiting for another one of his attacks… but nothing happens… all she can hear was someone sleeping and snoring at the same time, and by someone, I mean Lee.

Kilala started following his snoring as she walked up to him, she stood in front of him as he's laying his back on the grass, sleeping? **_"I never faced anyone who suddenly falls asleep right in the middle of a fight,"_** Kilala thought as she continues listening to him snoring. Then she inadvertently kicked him to the ankle, to know if he's really asleep or try to wake him up, yet he didn't respond as he's still snoring. "I don't have time for this," she said, **_"I'll just finish him now and then go after those other Leaf ninjas,"_** she thought, then she balled up her fist and gather up her strength. With no hesitation, Kilala go for the kill as she's threw her hard punch, aiming at his face, since he's defenseless, he's wide-open, he's so dead, and he's… awake?

Kilala suddenly felt two feet stopping her punch, then she heard, "FOOLED YOU!!" Lee said since he wasn't really asleep at all, it was a trap for Kilala to let her guard down so he will have a chance to…

"NOW!" Lee said his feet pushed Kilala fist away, then he quickly…

**_KICK!_**

He kicked right under her chin, that made her fly up to the air, then he turned, disappeared… and reappeared behind Kilala as they're both flying in the air.** _"Gai-sensei, I hope you're watching,"_** he thought loudly, as he unwrapped both of his arm bandages, wrapped it around Kilala, grab hold of her and start spinning while falling down.

"Primary Lotus!" Lee said as he span faster, as they're falling faster to the ground and…

**_BAM!!_**

They both hit the ground very hard, but Lee quickly let go of Kilala for she was the only one who hit the ground as he jumped out of the way. Lee slowly stood up as he watched the smoke fade away, as it did, he saw Kilala on the ground unconscious, "That'll teach you not to mess with the greatest ninja in the Leaf village… for I, Rock Lee, the greatest, strongest, fastest, unbeatable, invincible nin…ja… of all…" Lee lost his focus and balance as he fell backwards and landed on the ground "Zzzzz-zzzz, Zzzzz-zzzz," he's snoring again as he went fell asleep… for real. **(I forgot to mention that the pill that he took would last awhile during a fight, but once he used up all his energy and strength, the pill will immediate wore off that would cause him all tired and knocked-out.)** So at the end, Kilala is defeated and Lee is completely knocked out, but the mission is far from over as Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are the only three left of chasing after Ibate and Dujobe to rescue Sakura.

**Through the forest, back...**

Shikamaru and Chouji continue jumping through the forest, to catch up with the others, even though the sun is going down and it's close to nighttime. "Shikamaru, the sun is going down and the others are far ahead of us," Chouji said, "Well we have to try to catch up to them, they need our help," Shikamaru said as they continued they're way. Until…

"Shikamaru," Chouji said as he and Shikamaru just spotted a huge figure coming their way, at first they thought it might be one of those thugs, they stopped jumping as they're about to get to their position once the figure is coming towards them. Once it came closer, it revealed that it's not just a figure and it's not one of the thugs, it was…

"It's Shino and Neji," Shikamaru said as they saw Shino and Neji appeared, except that Shino is carrying the unconscious Neji on his shoulder, and has a wounded shoulder. "What happened to you guys, where are the others?" Chouji asked, "It's kind of a long story but I'll make it short, Neji and I fought against twin thugs while the others chase after the other thugs. We were able to defeat them, although Neji isn't feeling very well…" they all turned to Neji, "I believe he's coming down with a fever," Shino said. Shikamaru placed his hand on Neji's forehead, as he can feel him burning up, "We need to get him out of here, he's burning up," he said. Then he spotted Shino's left shoulder, as he noticed his skin was burned and broke apart, also bleeding through his jacket, "You also need help too Shino, someone need to take a good look at that injury of yours," Shikamaru said. Shino didn't say anything as he remembered that acid web string he got from one of Fuzca's huge spiders during their fight.

Shikamaru turned to Chouji, "New plan Chouji, I need you to help Shino to bring Neji back to the village," he said, "What about you?" Chouji asked. "I'll try to catch up with the others to see if they needed help, so in case there's anything serious, try to inform the other Jounins for their help," Shikamaru said. Chouji hoped that he would help Shikamaru throughout the mission, but he knows that every ninja have to help each fallen ninjas no matter what. So Chouji nodded as he will help Shino carry Neji back to the village, "Alright then…" Shikamaru said as Chouji wrapped Neji's free arm around his shoulder, "Try to send help as soon as you can," Shikamaru said, "Sure thing," Chouji said. Then… Shikamaru went ahead, jumping through the forest as Chouji and Shino carries Neji did the same, going back to the village.

**_"This whole mission is about to become harder and harder than I thought,"_** Shikamaru thought as he continue his to the others.

**Further through the forest…**

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru as darkness finally falls, "It's already dark, and the other two thugs are ahead," Kiba said, "Then we have to keep going after them, we can't stop now," Sasuke said. Naruto didn't say anything as he remembered what Kakashi said to him and Sasuke before this mission started…

**Flashback…**

**_"All you two ever care about is fighting, to know whose better than whom, she was very upset the fact that you two can't cooperate," he had his arms folded. "So what's the point of finding her if both of you keep on competing with each other?" he said as they still kept quiet, "If something ever happens to her, there's no one to blame but yourselves," he said._**

**Flashback over…**

Naruto thought about what his sensei said, which made him feel guilty inside, the thought of actually fighting against Sasuke but doing it in front Sakura, which upsets her. Now some thug kidnaps her, and he feared that she might get hurt or worse, especially by this Akeeba person, one of the thugs kept mentioning. He's not going to let that happened Sakura, he will save her before she something happens to her. He, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru continue their way to catch after the last two thugs to rescue Sakura.

**Few hours past, as nighttime passed to morning…**

The sun rose up as Ibate and Dujobe are close to the mountains, though they can still sense the Leaf ninjas are on their tail. Though Dujobe noticed Sakura stopped struggling inside the cocoon, "So you were able to convince her after all," he said, "Yes I have, I was able to show her the truth within herself, about everyone she knew and everything she never forgotten. So with no doubts, she'll let Lord Akeeba take her emotions and become one of us, _**'otherwise, we would have to do it by force if necessary,'**_," Ibate said and thought as he and Dujobe finally made it out of the forest and now running up the edge of the cliffs, started heading up the mountains.

**Few minutes later…**

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru made it out of the forest, "There they are," Kiba said as they all spotted Ibate and Dujobe as they kept running through each cliffs towards the mountains. "They're far ahead," Sasuke said, "Me and Arkamaru know the other way to catch up to them, it's this way," Kiba said as he and Arkamaru led the way, Naruto and Sasuke followed them as they're running up to the other edge of the cliff, and head to the different direction up towards mountains.

Ibate and Dujobe ran passed the edges and running through the surface layer, heading towards the rock-like bridge attached to the other side of the edge. "Once we cross over, we'll head straight up the mountains," Ibate said to Dujobe as they're about to cross over the bridge… until, they sensed them! They immediately stopped at the edge of the bridge as… they saw the three Leaf ninjas appeared on the other side of the bridge, blocking they're way.

"You again," Ibate said,

"Afraid so, apparently you thugs don't have what it take to take us all down," Sasuke said as he pulled out his kunai and stood in his fighting stance. "Yeah, we got you right where we wanted and there's nowhere else to run," Kiba said, "Bark-Bark!" Arkamaru barked, Naruto on the other hand is still upset and angry, "You thugs better give us back Sakura-chan or else you have to deal with us!" he said with anger in him. Dujobe held onto the cocoon as Ibate stood in front of him, "Seems like Kilala couldn't hold them off as we thought… this time I'll take them all off while you take Ms. Haruno to Lord Akeeba," Ibate said, "Got it," Dujobe said. Then…

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked,

"What's that Arkamaru?" Kiba asked, communicating him,

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked, Naruto turned to Kiba,

"What's going on?" he asked,

"Arkamaru smell out Sakura's scent, she's not in there," Kiba answered,

"She's not?!" Naruto said and turned back to Ibate and Dujobe.

Dujobe felt something behind the cocoon, he turned it towards him and Ibate as they discovered… a huge cut on it, that it was cut from the inside. Ibate opened it up and looked inside the cocoon as it shows… emptiness, Sakura is no longer inside the cocoon, _**"She escaped,"**_ he thought. He turned to Dujobe, "How far is she?" he asked, Dujobe stood in his position as his paled brown eyes turned paler, then he closed his eyes and started sniffing through the air.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru noticed what he's doing, _**"What is he up to?"**_ Sasuke thought, "What is he doing?" Naruto asked Kiba, "I don't know, but something tells me that we're up against another one of their tricks," Kiba answered. Then… Arkamaru started growling and barking at Dujobe, which interrupted him, he opened his eyes and turned to Arkamaru as he's still barking at him. "Arkamaru," Kiba said as he watched his dog barking and growling at Dujobe, Dujobe shows no expression on his face as he stare at the barking dog. Then at that moment… Dujobe dropped the empty cocoon as his pale brown eyes became paler and thin, his nails grew into claws, along with his fangs in his teeth, and…

_**"RRROOOOOAAAAA!!"**_ he roared at the dog. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba became stun and shocked after they heard him roared, which cause Arkamaru to stop barking at him, and started whimpering and backing away from him. He crawled inside Kiba's jacket trembling, "Arkamaru," Kiba said as he felt his dog trembling in fear, he turned back to Dujobe as he spread his legs, _**"You haven't seen the half of it," **_he said in a different voice as he develop his amount of chakra flowing in his body. They all sensed his amount of chakra as his body started to change,

_**"What's with this freak?"**_ Kiba thought,

_**"What's with this chakra?"**_ Sasuke thought,

_**"This can't be happening,"**_ Naruto thought.

Dujobe's body is changing as the inside of his bone started to grow and change into different places, Ibate stood back from him as he watched him change his entire body.** _"So he decided to use his transformation… very well then,"_** Ibate thought as he's not surprised nor show any expression whatsoever. Dujobe's skin all covered in long brown hair as it became furry, his gloves and shoes were ripped apart as his claws became sharp and his feet turned into paws. Then… his face started to change as his nose, along with his mouth, started to change to an animal form as it grew and poke out, with his ears to grow big, pointy and also furry, which left him is… his long furry tail poking out from behind. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba's eyes were widened as they've witness his transformation of an animal or a beast **(kind of like a wolf/werewolf like)**, Dujobe stood his two paws and moved his tail around,

"H-he's some kind of monster," Naruto said, as he's still stun,

"More like an animal," Kiba said as he held onto Arkamaru, as he still trembling,

"This is not good," Sasuke said.

Dujobe went back sniffing the air… as he finally smell out Sakura's scent from a far distant, he used his ears to track her down as he can hear her running through the forest, but still at the mountain area. _**"She's not far, she's running through the forest close to the other side of the east mountain," **_Dujobe said to Ibate, "Alright then," he said. "Did you hear?" Kiba said, "Yeah, Sakura is not far from here, so we have to figure a way to get to her before they do," Sasuke said, _**"Sakura-chan,"**_ Naruto thought. As Ibate and Dujobe turned to them, _**"How about I'll take care of these Leaf ninjas while you go after Ms. Haruno," **_Dujobe said, Ibate stare at the three Leaf ninjas as they're not giving up their mission, "Very well then," he said then he quickly turned and ran off after Sakura.

"He's going after Sakura-chan," Naruto said, "I know but now this thug is blocking our way," Kiba said, Sasuke took a step forward, "Leave him to me, you two should go after Sakura before the other thug does," he said. Kiba grabbed his shoulder to stop him, "No way Sasuke, you still have a few minutes for your jutsus and your Sharingan to return," he said, Sasuke turned to him, "Well one of us have to stall him in order to pass him," he said. "Leave that to me," Naruto said as he charged Dujobe, "Naruto!" Sasuke yelled to him as he's crossing the bridge. Naruto gathered his chakra,

"Shadow Clone jutsu," he said as a dozen of clones appeared and they're all charging at Dujobe. Dujobe saw the clones charging at him, he did the head start as he charged him in full speed and…

_**Thrust!**_

He thrust his claw at every clone in one blow, then he grabbed the real one by the neck as the clones 'poof' away. Sasuke and Kiba saw how fast he is as he has Naruto in his grasp, _**"Since you're the one being all hasty, I'll start with you first,"**_ Dujobe said as he tighten his grip and had his other claw near Naruto's face. Naruto was struggling, trying to break free from his grasp and preventing him from choking him to death, "Hold it…! What are you thugs…and wh…why Sakura-chan, what is it that Lord Akeeba want from her…?" he managed to ask Dujobe before his claws touched his face. _**"You with that question again, how about I'll rip out your tongue so you'll choke in your own blood,"**_ Dujobe said as was about to thrust him with his claw again… until…

"Fang over Fang!" he turned and saw two ninjas spinning in full speed towards him. They both got him in the front, as they were able to make him let go of Naruto, while he was pushed his feet are still in his position. He grabbed both of them with his hands, to make them stop spinning, he had them by the necks, **_"You're both in my way,"_** Dujobe said to them then… he threw them apart from each other and off the bridge.

"Kiba," Naruto yelled as he said Kiba and Arkamaru(Kiba) were thrown off the bridge, Dujobe turned back to Naruto, **_"Now I'll deal with you,"_** he growled then he charge him with his claw out to attack. Naruto tried to get away from him but he wasn't quick enough as Dujobe was about to slash him, until…

**_Cut!_**

Dujobe got cut by a windmill shuriken at the face, which made him stop, Sasuke appeared right in front of Naruto as he quickly caught the spinning windmill shuriken, "Sasuke-teme," Naruto said. "Seems like I have to be saving ass every time," Sasuke said as he's in his position, Naruto got back up, "Well you don't need to be saving me," Naruto said to him, **_"You both won't be needed any help…"_ **They both turned to Dujobe looked at them, with no scar on his face, **_"Once I finish you both, they'll be nothing left but bones out of your flesh,"_** Dujobe said while growling. Sasuke threw his windmill shuriken again at him… except, Dujobe caught it with his mouth, Naruto and Sasuke became surprise when he caught with his mouth, and then…

**_Crush!!_**

He crushed the windmill shuriken with his strong, sharp teeth to pieces,_ **"Shit,"**_ Sasuke thought as he and Naruto are in big trouble now. **_"Enough of this… I'll just get rid you both just like I got rid of your two friends,"_ **Dujobe said as he was about to slash them or bite them… until suddenly…

"Fang over Fang!" two spinners appeared from behind as they both hit Dujobe at the back, it pushed him forward towards Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke saw him coming as they quickly jumped out of the way, over him as they're on the other side, Kiba and Arkamaru(Kiba) stopped spinning as Arkamaru 'poofed' back to his original form. "Kiba," Naruto said, Kiba and Arkamaru turned to them, "We have to get out of here quick," Kiba said, "What do you mean?" Naruto asked, "This bridge is about to blow," Kiba said, since he and Arkamaru placed some paper-bombs on the bridge after Dujobe threw them off the bridge. Dujobe got back up as he saw the three ninjas are about to escape, and he can smell the paper-bombs started lightening up, he charged out them, until…

**_Boom! BooM!! BOOM!!_**

The bridge blew up as it's falling down, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru were able to ran out of it… until, **_"RRROOOOAAARRR!"_ **Dujobe roared as he quickly grabbed Kiba's ankle and made him fall. Arkamaru caught his sleeve as Kiba try to grab the edge, but it broke off and Arkamaru fell along with him,

"KIBA!" Naruto yelled as he and Sasuke saw Kiba and Arkamaru fell along with Dujobe after the bridge blew up. Naruto and Sasuke looked down to see if Kiba and Arkamaru are okay, or if they survive, but they could see them as there are rocks and boulders, crumbled in their way,

"Kiba…! Arkamaru…! Where are you?" Naruto yelled down there, but couldn't see or hear them. He and Sasuke looked down and search for them, but no sign of Kiba or Arkamaru anywhere, until…

"Bark! Bark!" they heard Arkamaru barking,

"Bark-Bark! Bark!" they followed where his bark is coming from as they saw…

"There they are," Naruto said as he and Sasuke spotted Kiba and Arkamaru. As Kiba just got out of a pile of rocks and Arkamaru helped him, Kiba shook his head after some rocks hit him after he fell.

"Kiba, are you and Arkamaru okay?" Kiba heard Naruto's voice as he and Arkamaru look up at him and Sasuke from above them. "We're okay," Kiba yelled back, "Hang in there, we're going to get you out of there," Naruto yelled, "Don't worry about us, you guys go after the other thug," Kiba yelled back. "He's right," Naruto turned to Sasuke, "The other thug is going after Sakura, we have to carry on with the mission," Sasuke explained, "But we can't just leave Kiba down there," Naruto protest. "You both go on ahead, me and Arkamaru will try to catch up with you guys," Kiba yelled, "Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked, "Alright then… let's go," Sasuke said then he got ahead start going after the other thug. Naruto look down at Kiba and Arkamaru for a moment… then he turned and followed Sasuke.

Kiba slowly got up after Naruto and Sasuke left, but… he and Arkmaru heard a ruthless growl as it's coming from behind. They quickly turned as they saw someone coming out of a pile of rocks and boulders, and by someone, I mean…

**_"It'll take more than that explosion to take me out,"_** Kiba and Arkamaru felt a bit shaky at a moment after seeing Dujobe again, _**"You didn't think that you can actually get rid of me just like that now are you,"** _Dujobe said while growling at them. "Shit," Kiba said, "Rarf!" Arkamaru barked, "Seems like we might not catch up to Naruto and Sasuke after all," Kiba said as he and Arkamaru are now dealing with Dujobe, them vs. the beast.

**Forest, at the mountains…**

Sakura is jumping through the trees in the forest after she was able to make her escape out of that cocoon. _**"By now, they already found out I escaped,"**_ she thought as she jumped down from the tree and land back on the ground. She stopped to rest for a moment, then she hid herself somewhere behind the trees, to make sure Ibate or Dujobe won't find her. So far, she sensed no one following her, she sighed in relief, _**"Now I could find Naruto, Sasuke-kun and the others, and get out of here,"**_ she thought as she was about to leave the area. When suddenly… something caught her by the ankle and made her fell down, she quickly turned and saw… a vine wrapped around her ankle. "What the…?" she said as she try to yank her ankle away from it, but for some reason it won't let go of her, it has come to life, literally. Then… another vine wrapped around her other ankle as they both started to pull her, Sakura try to grab onto something so she won't be pulled away, but instead fingers nailed through the dirt, making a trail as she's being pulled away. "No! No-noo! AAAHHHHH!!" she screamed as the vines pulled her off the ground to all the way up toward the trees, more vines came alive as they wrapped around each of her body parts. Both her knees, along with her waist, her arms, her front, and her mouth, Sakura was wrapped and pinned against a tree, upside-down. She struggles to get loose but the vines won't let her go, as they're being control by something… or someone.

_"You should of think before you escaped Ms. Haruno…" _she heard Ibate's voice but doesn't see him anywhere when… the area of the forest around her started moving and shifting at a different place; as if, they're rearranging. _**"What is this?"**_ Sakura thought as the area stop shifting, she saw a huge tree in front of her as the big, long, and thick branch is attach to her side. Then at that moment… Sakura eye's became widen as she saw something emerge out of the tree trunk, as it revealed a human-figure appearing out of the tree… it was none other than Ibate, as he emerge out of the tree and stood out in the open.

"You shouldn't make things worse for yourself having a thought of escaping from us, we're trying to help you yet you wish to be with the people who don't need you," he said, Sakura mumbles since the vines covered her mouth. Ibate snapped his fingers as the vines immediately uncovered Sakura's mouth,

"How would you know, my friends are risking their lives to save me while you people kidnap me," she said in a anger tone.

"So you rather be with those people in the Leaf village than become one of us?" Ibate asked as he walked up to her,

"I have friends and family that need me, and that's something that not even you can ever break that bond," she said to him straight up. Ibate didn't show any expression as he stood in front of her, even as she's upside down and some of her blood are flowing down towards her brain, Sakura glare at him as he just look at her.

"You still don't get it do you Ms. Haruno? There's more to life than just being with friends and family, and that's by creating a whole new future," he said, Sakura didn't say anything, _**"A whole new future? What is he talking about?"**_ she thought. Then she noticed Ibate gathering his chakra as he closed his eyes, for he's about to use that forbidden jutsu Lord Akeeba taught him, since he remember what he told him before it all started…

**Flashback…**

_**Akeeba and Ibate are at the edge of the mountain, as Akeeba stood staring at the view of the forest, village and other mountains Ibate kneeled to him with his fist touching the ground and his head down.**_

_**"My team and I are about to head out to the Leaf village to bring Ms. Haruno here," Ibate said,**_

_**"Very well then, be sure to convince her about joining us Ibate, or… you could use that forbidden jutsu on her. In case she refuse to join us nor accept any offers from us, be sure to use that jutsu I taught you so she'll come running to me, do I make myself clear?" Akeeba said with an evil smirk on his face,**_

_**"Yes my Lord," Ibate answered.**_

_**"Good, now you and your team go now, we only have until one week for it to come," Akeeba said,**_

_**"Yes," Ibate said as he stood up, turn his back and was about to leave, until…**_

_**"Oh, and Ibate…" Ibate stopped when he heard Akeeba said to him, "Do as you can to take out anyone who gets in your way… and don't fail me."**_

_**"Yes Lord Akeeba," Ibate said then he finally left and went back to his team.**_

**Flashback over…**

After that, Ibate gather up his chakra in his eyes as he kept them closed, Sakura sensed his chakra as she began to worry. **_"What is he doing?" _Inner Sakura asked, _"I don't know, but I get the bad feeling we're going to find out,"_** she thought as she looked at Ibate. Then he said, "Since you didn't bother to think through your thoughts, you left me no choice but to use this jutsu on you Sakura, though I should warn you that what you see…" he opened his eyes again. "Is no illusion!" he said, Sakura gasped when she saw… his eyes as it's shows all blue and Sakura is looking right. Then suddenly… her eyes became pale, _**"What's happening?!"**_ she thought as her body began to shiver and her mind felt like it's been taken over against her will. As her green eyes became pale she lost consciousness again as her eyes are closed, Ibate touched her cheek as his eyes are still all blue, _**"This forbidden jutsu is temporary for any ninja to handle, for what they see in their eyes are something that they're not allowed to see nor imagine. Even though I used half of my chakra, this will last long enough for her to reach to Lord Akeeba… that is… if I lose my focus or my consciousness the jutsu will immediately wore off," **_he thought. Then he grabbed hold of Sakura as the vines slowly released her, she's no longer tied up and upside down, Ibate held her in his arms in a bridal style again. He gaze at her face, as she looked peaceful and beautiful, "Lord Akeeba is not far from here Ms. Haruno… it will all be over very soon, just as I promised you," he whisper to her then he plant a kiss on her forehead. Just as he turned his body and was about to leave this area, he heard…

"You're not going anywhere!" he turned as he saw the two Leaf ninjas, Naruto and Sasuke, as they appeared from behind, "This is the end of the line for you," Sasuke said to him straight up. _**"They just won't quit, do they,"**_ Ibate thought as Sasuke and Naruto saw Sakura in his arms unconscious, "Give us back Sakura-chan you bastard," Naruto said with demand. "I think not, I rather not know how you two were able to pass Dujobe but you both still don't have what it takes to stop all of us," Ibate said still not showing any emotions, Sasuke and Naruto looked at his entire blue eyes, _**"Judging by his chakra, he must be the strongest among the other thugs,"**_ Sasuke thought. "Naruto, listen… we don't know what his ability is, but I want you to take Sakura away from here and return her back to the village as soon as you can," Sasuke said to Naruto. "What about you? Neither of your jutsus are not even back yet," Naruto said, "I only have less than five minutes left, I'll manage to stall this thug while you rescue Sakura," Sasuke said.

_**"I will not allow them,"**_ Ibate thought as he gathered control of his chakra through each tree around. Sasuke and Naruto sensed his chakra as they saw… a bunch of branches come to life and charging right at them, they both immediately split apart to dodge. Then more trees started moving as they struck more of their branch at Naruto and Sasuke. **"So this is his ability, he's using ninjutsu controlling every living thing around him for counter-attack,"** Sasuke thought as he's dodging more branch coming at him. Naruto did the same, then he quickly pull out his kunai and…

**_Cut! Slash! Cut! Slash!_**

He cut and slashed each branch that come at him, though more of them are still charging him, he jumped, dodged, cut and slashed more of the branches but they kept coming. Sasuke did the same as he dodged, cut and slashed each branch coming at him, after he slashed three more branches, he quickly turned and saw Ibate escaping, taking the unconscious Sakura with him. He turned to Naruto, "Naruto, he's getting away," he yelled, Naruto heard him are he slash three more branches, he turned and saw Ibate taking Sakura away, **_"I won't let that bastard take you away,"_** he thought. Then he gathered up his chakra to perform,

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" he said as his clones appeared, they all cut and slashed each branch coming at them, as they're all chasing after Ibate.

Sasuke is busy with the trees as they kept throwing their branches at him, he kept dodging and slashing every branch, **_"Come on, I can't keep this up forever,"_** he thought as he's beginning to feel his chakra returning. So he started trying to reactivate his Sharingan, though it flickers every few seconds, **_"Come on…Come on…"_** he thought, and then one of the branches caught and wrapped around his right wrist, then the other wrapped around his left shoulder, **_"Come on dammit! Come on!"_** he thought as his Sharingan kept flicking to reactivate it. Then more branches got him wrapped around his part of his body, his left arm, both his legs, while they are apart, his waist, and his chest, and they pulled him against a tree behind him. _**"Come on! Come On! COME ON!"**_ he thought loudly as the branches made him drop his kunai and started wrapping around his entire body. Until… he fully have his chakra back and finally activated his Sharingan, _**"Yes!"**_ he thought as he now gather up his chakra, even as the branch as a hold of both his arms, he managed to form a Tiger hand-sign as he's about to use…

"Fire Style; Fireball jutsu!" he said as he blew out a huge fire ball at the branches, as they all got burned, along with trees connected to them. Sasuke was able to free himself from the branches, he took a moment for some air and then he jumped through the forest catching up to Naruto, chasing after Ibate.

Ibate kept jumping through the forest while carrying Sakura, though he sensed one of the Leaf ninja chasing after him, **_"I have to get rid of them,"_** he thought then he jumped off the tree and landed on the ground. He found a nearest tree where he gently placed Sakura there, she's still unconscious after that jutsu he put on her, "I'll leave you here for now Ms. Haruno, I just need to take care of those Leaf Ninjas first, and then we'll go to Lord Akeeba, it won't take long," he said to her. Then he disappeared from that area, leaving the unconscious Sakura by herself, after that jutsu he did to her, something is bothering her mind and it's not one of those nightmares she use to have whenever she gets knocked out.

**To be continued…**

**I hope you enjoy it or like this chapter, I wanted to make it longer but I don't want to keep you all waiting. So please-please-Please review, I really appreciate it. I'll try to update the other chapter, once I deal with the other update of Heart of the Cherry Blossom, and the other stories of Desire and Get You Back. So again, please-please-Please review to me, while I try to update the other chapter. Please, thank you and goodnight!**

**Questions?**

**Do you believe Ibate likes Sakura?**

**Who will fight against Ibate, Sasuke or Naruto? (Your choice)**

**Will the 'Sakura Retrieval' mission be accomplish or fail?**


	8. Chapter 8

**I read your reviews and saw your answers to my questions I left, I appreciate it. So enjoy this chapter I updated, to the readers who reviewed, and to those who didn't review. So yeah, sit back, relax, and enjoy this update.**

**1-complicated-girl****; Sorry I made you wait, and I'm glad you like this story so far. Thanks for your review and answers to the question, enjoy this chapter I updated.**

**king Nintendo; Thank you for your review and answers to the question. You don't need to worry about the pairings, because I believe there's going to be a centric.**

**The mission is far from over, even though Lee manage to defeat the blind female thug, Kilala, and ended up falling asleep; Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Arkmaru are dealing with the last two thugs, Ibate and Dujobe. The major problem of those two is that Dujobe used his transformation of becoming some wild animal, and Ibate is controlling every living-thing around him. Above all, Ibate use some forbidden jutsu on Sakura, which cause her to lose her conscious again. Sasuke was able to restore his Sharingan and jutsu again, except that Kiba and Arkamaru are now facing up against Dujobe in his wolf/werewolf form while Naruto and Sasuke are after Ibate to rescue Sakura. For she is about to see something she never…**

**Ibate vs. Leaf ninjas…**

Naruto and his clones chased after Ibate, after he took off taking Sakura with him. As they're chasing after the last thug… the trees suddenly came alive as the branch struck at Naruto and his clones. Some of the clones got hit and 'poof' away, and some of them dodged them, though more branched appeared from everywhere as it struck the rest of the clones, and grabbed the real Naruto as he's been wrapped up from each part of his body. Naruto struggled to break free but no luck as the branched held him tighter, "What gives?" he said as he kept struggling. _"Don't bother…"_ he heard a voice then he looked up and saw… the thug as he stood on a tree among him, "Even when you struggle, the trees will just squeeze you tighter until there's nothing left of you," Ibate said as he look down at him with his emotionless face. "You bastard! What have you done with Sakura-chan?" Naruto said with an anger tone, Ibate didn't say anything as he slowly merge his body to the tree, Naruto's eyes were widen while watching Ibate merge himself inside the tree… and made himself disappear out of sight. Though Naruto can still sense his chakra present as he now…

He gasped when he saw the trees rearranging around him, he can't tell whether it's a genjutsu or a ninjutsu, but he can sense a powerful chakra from the thug. Then a huge tree appeared in front of him, a figure emerge out of it, as it was Ibate now standing right in front of him. "Ms. Haruno is somewhere far away from you Leaf ninjas, within a few minutes she'll be on her way to Lord Akeeba," Ibate said to him. "Then what is that your Lord want from her?" Naruto demand and ignoring the tightness from the branches, "That's for me to know, and for you to find out… that is, if you can still catch your breath," Ibate said then he snapped his fingers, ordering his branches to wrap Naruto up more, and begin to squeeze the life out of him. Naruto felt the branches squeezing him tighter, and he can hardly breathe, **_"Auh…! C-can't… breathe…"_** Naruto thought as he's being suffocated. Ibate watch him as the branches squeezing him tighter and tighter for him to breathe no more, until…

"Fire Style; Phoenix Flower jutsu!" Ibate heard a voice as he quickly turned and a bunch of fall-balls charging right at him. He quickly jumped out of the way to dodge them, though most of them hit the branches, causing them to burn. As the branches are burning, they're no longer squeezing Naruto, that he was able to break himself free from those branches. After Naruto broke free from those branches, he turned and saw none other than… Sasuke, since he used his fire technique and has his Sharingan activated again. "Sasuke…" Naruto said, "It seems like you really do need saving from me," Sasuke said, Naruto glare at him for a moment, and then he and Sasuke turned to Ibate. "So you were able to regain your chakra again… no matter, Kilala should've block more of your chakra, otherwise you might not use any of your jutsus at all," Ibate said. "You're the one to talk, now what have you done with our comrade?" Sasuke said with demands, Ibate didn't say anything as Sasuke and Naruto glare at him, **_"…Ms. Haruno is about to be on her way to Lord Akeeba, right about…"_** he thought.

**Further away from the area…**

Sakura mumbled as she's regaining consciousness again, she slowly placed her hand on her head as if she has an extreme headache, "My head," she said to herself. Then she slowly got back on her feet and looked around, she's all by herself, she doesn't see Ibate, or anyone else anywhere. "Now where am I?" she said as she slowly got back up, "What just happe… Ah!" she shrieked, when she felt something grabbed her ankle. She looked down and saw… a hand but formed by grass, she started pulling her ankle away from it, but it won't let go of her and then… she suddenly felt two branches wrapped up and grabbed hold of both of her arms, "What the…" she said as she caught into some trap again. That's when she realized…

_**"GRRR-RR!"**_ she heard something growling… and felt something breathing from behind… she trembles as she's afraid to know what's behind her. But instead… she slowly turned her head towards whatever it is behind her, and… she gasped when she saw… demons! Merging out of the tree, about three or four of them look at her with their bright yellow eyes, revealing their sharp teeth… and they look hungry. Sakura never felt this scared her whole life… and now she's about to be devour by demons!

**Ibate vs. Leaf ninjas…**

"Out with it, where's…?" Naruto said until,

_"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"_

They all heard a loud scream of terror, as they know it was Sakura, _**"Sakura-chan,"**_ Naruto thought as he's knows that she's in trouble. Then suddenly… Ibate use control of the trees again as the branches charge at Naruto and Sasuke. They quickly dodged them, though they kept on coming, so Sasuke pull out and threw shurikens at them…

**_Slash! Cut! Slash! Cut!_**

The branches were cut and slash by the shurikens, Naruto and Sasuke landed on one of the trees, as Ibate is still controlling every tree around him. "Naruto…" Naruto turned to Sasuke, "You go on and find Sakura, leave this thug to me," he said as he glare at Ibate, normally Naruto would protest but he's more worried about what happen to Sakura, that she might end up hurt or worse. "Just go on you dobe, I can handle him," Sasuke said as he got his kunai got and prepared himself, Naruto didn't say anything but nodded his head, then he started to leave the area to rescue Sakura. Ibate saw him leaving, **_"I will not allow,"_ **he thought as he command the trees to stop him. The trees use their branches to charge at Naruto from behind, Naruto turned and saw the branches coming at him again, they almost got him until…

**_Slash! Cut! Slash! Cut!_**

They all got cut and slashed by more shuriken… by Sasuke, **_"Thanks teme,"_ **Naruto thought as he continue his way to rescue Sakura. Ibate turned to Sasuke after he was able to help his comrade from those branches, "He's not you're problem anymore, as of now, I'm your opponent," Sasuke said as he got to his fighting stance. Ibate didn't bother showing any emotions nor said anything, **_"This will be my first time fighting against someone with a powerful bloodline of the Kekkei Genkai,"_ **Ibate thought as spread his legs apart, and more trees come to life but under his control. Now that Sasuke has his Sharingan activated, he's more than ready fight against the last thug; the mission is almost over, that is, once Naruto rescue Sakura and take her back to the village.

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe (beast form)…**

Kiba and Arkamaru got into their fighting stances as Dujobe got out of a pile of rocks and stones, **_"So it's just you two huh… I'll see to it that you both won't make it out of here… alive,"_ **Dujobe said while growling. "Alright Arkamaru, let's take this animal down," Kiba said after he pulled out a food pill for Arkamaru, "Barks!" Arkamaru barked Kiba gave him the food pill, which causes his fur to turn red and look vicious, then he jumped on Kiba's head. "Now then…" Kiba said as he and Arkamaru gather up their chakra, "Beast Human Clone jutsu!"

'Poof' Arkamaru is transform to Kiba again. "And now…" they both charge at Dujobe,

"Fang over Fang!" Kiba and Arkamaru started spinning in full speed, targeting at Dujobe. Dujobe stood in his position as he saw them coming right at him, he stuck both his hands out and…

**_Bam!_**

Just like Kilala, Dujobe got both of them as they kept spinning, causing smoke on his palm but he doesn't respond to the pain or burn, then… he made them stop spinning as he got them both by the collars. **_"Pathetic,"_ **he said then he threw Arkamaru (Kiba) back to the ground, 'poof' back to original form, and…

**_Bam!!!_**

Dujobe slammed Kiba to the ground very hard, hard enough to make a crater with many cracks. **_"You don't have what it takes to fight a real beast,"_** Dujobe said, then…

**_Crush!!_**

He stomped on Kiba with his foot at his front very hard, hard another for Kiba to cough out blood, as if he felt his ribs are being crush. **_"I'll just crush you and break every bone in your body,"_** Dujobe said while growling at him, then started stomping and crushing him like useless rot. Then Arkamaru saw his master getting pulverize by that beast, as he got back and, with no hesitation, he charge at him,

"Rarf! Rarf!" he barked at him as he jumped and…

**_Bite!_**

Dujobe stopped crushing Kiba as he noticed Arkamaru biting on his arm and growling at him, **_"Get off me you weak mutt!"_ **Dujobe said and was about to grab him. But Arkamaru quickly ran away from grasp as he ran up to his shoulder and…

**_BiTe!!_**

**_"RRROOOAAA!!!!!"_ **Dujobe roared after Arkamaru is now biting his ear, **(surely every animal hates it when they have ears bitten, especially wild animals.) **Kiba opened his eyes and saw Arkamaru biting Dujobe's ear, and notice him backing away,

"Arkamaru," he said, but still hurt from Dujobe stomping and crushing him, so some parts of his front aches. Dujobe was about to grab Arkamaru again, but Arkamaru got away from his grasp again as he ran down on his back and then…

**_BITE!!!_**

**_"RRROOOOAAAAA!!!!!"_** Dujobe roared again after Arkamaru is now biting his tail, **(I know that every tail is an animal's weakness)** "Arkamaru!" Kiba said as he tried to get back up. Dujobe turned and saw Arkamaru still biting his tail, and growling at him, **_"Why you!"_ **he said while growling at him, he tried to grab him but, like a dog, he's chasing his own tail. So instead… he used his fangs to bite back. But, again, Arkamaru quickly dodged his bite as he just jumped on top of him and ran up to his back again, then…

**_BITE!_**

**_"RRROOOAAAA!!!"_** Dujobe roared again after Arkamaru is biting on his back, **_"Quit biting me,"_ **he yelled, but Arkamaru kept biting and growling at the same time,

**_"Don't give up Arkamaru,"_ **Kiba thought as he slowly got back up. Dujobe tried to reach Arkamaru to grab him, but he can't even reach his own back, _**"GET OFF ME YOU MUTT!"**_ he yelled. Then… he went down onto his four feet and started running, then…

**_BaM!_**

He hit his back to the stone wall, trying to shake off Arkamaru off his back or crush him with each stone wall he hit, thanks to his animal instinct, he kept running and hitting each stone wall trying to get Arkamaru off him. Kiba saw him running away, **_"I won't let that monster hurt my dog,"_ **Kiba thought as he started running after him, even though his front is still sore, he careless about his injury because he's more worried about Arkamaru. "Hang in there Arkamaru!" he yelled as he chased after Dujobe.

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

Ibate made the first move as the branches charge at Sasuke, Sasuke saw them coming as he quickly jumped out of the way. Except… some of the trees come alive and used their branches to wrap-up and grabbed hold of both his arms and legs, but spread them apart, and pinned him to a tree behind him.

"I'll just kill you right here in this spot," Ibate said as he formed some hand-sign, gather up his chakra and place his hand on the tree he's standing on, the trunks started growing taller as it's facing Sasuke. Sasuke notices something merging out of it, as it revealed… sharp daggers all made of wood and targeting Sasuke wide open. He couldn't escape from them as both his arm and legs a tied-up by those branches,

"Now then… One-Hundred Daggers of Death!" Ibate said as the daggers shot out of the tree and flew at Sasuke, and then…

**_Stab! Stab! Stab!_**

They all hit Sasuke right at the front, "Hn…" Ibate said as he saw him hanging there, dead. Except…

**_Poof!_**

It turned out that Ibate hit a log instead, "A Substitution jutsu," he said, then he heard,

"Fire Style; Fireball jutsu!" he turned and saw… a huge fireball coming right at him. Since he didn't have time to dodge it, he quickly grabbed the trunk and… stretched it in front of him, to use it as a shield, made of wood, to deflect the fireball. It worked as he defended himself from Sasuke's fireball jutsu, although fire overcomes wood and his shield burned, he removed it out of the way, until he saw… three kunais and two shurikens flying right at him, and…

**_Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!_**

He got hit to the front, flew to the opposite direction and hit a tree behind him, Sasuke appeared on the other tree across from Ibate as he saw him still standing while kunais and shurikens are still plunged at his front. "This is pitiful… when it comes to fighting you Leaf ninjas still use your weapons even for the fact that they won't work on us," Ibate said as he shows no expression or the response of the pain on his chest. Then, for some reason, Sasuke made a smirk on his face, "I already figured that… but there's more than just using weapons during a combat, and that's called a surprise attack," he said to him, Ibate doesn't know what he's talking about… until he heard something light-up. He looked down at his chest and saw… paper-bombs all wrapped-up on the kunais, and they already lit-up. So…

**_KABOOOM!!!!!_**

A huge explosion was made, and Ibate was flying in the opposite direction very fast, hitting and breaking every tree from behind. Until he hit the last tree, but made a huge crater on it, Sasuke stood up as the smoke is clearing… and he sees the damages of the trees Ibate hit through, "Hn…" he said, as he was able to get him off guard. Then he disappeared from that area.

**Through the forest…**

Sakura struggled to break free, as she was able to pull her ankle away from the grassy-hand, then she pull her arm away from the branch and used it to pull her other arm out. After she pulled herself away, she started running for her life, the demons emerge out of the tree and started chasing her. Sakura saw them chasing after her as she kept running from them, just when she turned around,

"AAHHH!" she screamed as she stopped running when she just spotted more demons merging out of the other tree. So she quickly ran to a different direction to get away from them, until… she gasped when she spotted more and more demons merging out of each tree around her, **_"This can't be happening,"_** she thought as her body quivers with fear. Then suddenly… a demon merged out of the ground, as its right under her feet, but mostly beside her right foot as it look up to her. Sakura didn't notice it there, it merged at of there as it jumped towards her lower side of her torso and…

**_Bite!_**

Sakura felt something bit her on the side, as she…

**Faraway from area…**

Naruto is jumping through the forest as fast as he can, when…

_"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"_ he heard her screamed again, but this time she was in pain, **_"I better hurry,"_** he thought as he's on his way to rescue Sakura. Except he wasn't alone, Naruto suddenly sensed a very powerful chakra as it's coming from the other side of him in his right. He quickly turned to his side and saw… a shadow figure also jumping though the forest in the same speed as his. Naruto was able to look at it close enough to tell it was a male adult, that he's wearing a black cape and hat, and he's heading the same direction as Naruto is going. **_"Could that be…?"_ **Naruto thought as he watched the stranger going where he's going, then… the man turned to Naruto with his bright yellow eyes, and an evil smirk on his face. Naruto glared at him, **_"So that's Lord Akeeba the thug kept mentioning about,"_** he thought, as he finally saw Lord Akeeba himself, then… he just saw Akeeba went faster on her pace as he jumped through the forest ahead of him. _**"He's going after Sakura-chan! I have to beat him to her,"**_ Naruto thought as he picked up the pace faster, trying to catch up to Akeeba and get to Sakura before he does.

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe (beast form)…**

Dujobe kept running and hitting each stone wall he passed by, but still couldn't get Arkamaru off his back as he's still biting him. _**"That's it!"**_ he said as he stopped himself and stood back up again. Arkamaru finally stop biting him back as he was about to bite his ear again… except, Dujobe finally grabbed him. Then he threw Arkamaru to a stone wall very hard, then he hit the ground hurt, Dujobe growled at him, **_"You worthless little trash,"_** he said. Then he spotted a boulder beside him, so he used his strength to lift it up with both hands, and held it over his head,** _"I'll crush you!"_** he said as he's walking up to Arkamaru, carrying a boulder over his head. Arkamaru was trying to get away from him, but one of his paws got hurt after Dujobe threw to the stone wall. Dujobe was about to crush him with the boulder, until…

A kunai was thrown, and it has a paper-bomb on it, once it hit the boulder it was already lit-up, and then…

**_Boom!_**

The boulder exploded over Dujobe's head as it crumbled on him, then… three purple smoke bombs were thrown and hit right between him and Arkamaru, causing some purple smoke around them. Dujobe couldn't see anything as the purple smoke is everywhere, **_"What is this, some kind of trick?"_ **he said as he tried to see through the smoke. Just at that moment… the smoke slowly clear, Dujobe can see everything again… everything except that Arkamaru is no longer there._ **"Where did that mutt disappeared to?"**_ he said as he search around the area, he doesn't see anything, until something caught his eye. He spotted a drop of blood on the ground, he got down on his four legs as he got near the dropped of blood. He sniffed it, recognizing it's scent, then he starting sniffing the air as he caught the scent, **_"Found you,"_ **he said while growling then he started following the scent, hunting down his two preys.

Arkamaru mumbles to the pain of his paw, while his master is carrying him, "Hang in there Arkamaru," Kiba said as he's running through ridge between the mountains, trying to get away from the beast himself. _**"There has to be a way out of here,"** _he thought trying to find a way out of this place, since there's hardly anywhere out of this ridge. He kept running, carrying Arkamaru in his arms, and hopefully got away from that beast thug.

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

Sasuke reappeared and found Ibate at a cratered tree behind him, as his shirt and pants are ripped and torned from that explosion. Yet, Sasuke can still sensed his chakra as he's not completely knocked out. Then…

"That was an impressive move…" he heard Ibate's voice, as he saw him moving and slowly getting back up, "I nearly underestimated you," he said as got back on his feet. Then something caught Sasuke's eye when he saw… something spreading around his body, some kind of glowing gold marks **(kind of like Sasuke's curse mark as it spread all over his body.) **As Ibate slowly lift his head up and looking at Sasuke with his entire paled blue eyes,

"Eh!" Sasuke responded as he's shocked when he saw his face, as half of it was covered by those glowing gold marks, that it was led from his right face around his neck down to his back and chest, and around his left leg.

"Now let's see if you're capable of facing the real deal!" Ibate said as he gather up his chakra he had left to full power. Sasuke sensed his chakra increasing into full power, **_"What is he?"_** he thought as he never faced anyone with that much power, then suddenly… he felt everything around him is changing, but more demonic. Then… he gasped when he saw… all the trees coming alive, but more vicious, monstrous, and mostly demonic, as they all turned to him,

**_"GRRR-RRR!!!"_** some were growling at him, some glared at him, and some want to kill him. Then suddenly… a branch charge at him, as he's standing on one of the demonic trees, so he quickly jumped and dodged it's attack. After he did, he heard…

"Bad move," Sasuke turned and saw Ibate as he just appeared behind him and…

**_KICK!_**

He kicked him right to the side, as Sasuke flew and broke through one of the trees, but quickly grabbed hold of a branch before he flew even further, **_"How was he able to appear that quick?"_** he thought as he stood on the branch. But… he felt the branch moving around as he's on one of the demonic trees again, it roared at him as it was about to grab him, but Sasuke jumped and dodged it's grasped. Then…

"Too slow," Sasuke's eyes were widened when he saw Ibate as he appeared right in front of him, but upside-down and they're face to face. Except…

**_BAM!_**

He hit him, or more like slap him, but with his back knuckle which cause Sasuke to fly to the opposite direction again, but this time… Ibate disappeared and reappeared in front of a tree to where Sasuke was about to crush into. Apparently…

**_KICK!_**

Ibate kicked him under his jaw with his snap-kick as Sasuke was kicked to the air, then Ibate disappeared and reappeared to where Sasuke was floating in mid air. Until he grabbed his ankle… twirled him around very fast… and just when he let him go, he threw down through the forest, and he crush and broke through every tree on his way down…

**_BAM!_**

To the ground. Ibate landed on the tree branch as he saw other trees were damaged and Sasuke was hit to the ground, "Is that the best you got Uchiha?" he said, **_"I should have unleash my inner strength from the very beginning,"_** Ibate thought as the smoke was clearing and Sasuke is somewhere in a pile of large, and also damaged torn down trees and branches.

**Through the forest…**

"Get off me!" Sakura yelled at the demon still biting her lower torso, then suddenly… demons merged out of the trees and some of them jumped on her. Two demons grabbed hold of her arm, and the two more demons took over the other arm; then more demons started crawling all over each part of her body. Sakura saw and felt demons all over her as she struggles and try to shake them off her, "No! Stop! Ah!!!" she yelled and screamed as she's panicking. Then she was able to shake off some demons that were holding her leg, then she kicked some of them away her. She then hit a tree behind her, that cause demons to fell off of her, then she was able to shook two demons off her left arm and turned to the demon that's still biting her. "GET OFF ME!" she yelled and…

**_Punch!!!_**

She punched the demon to the face, and made it stop biting her, except now the lower right of her torso started bleeding. After she was able to get all the demons off of her, she felt bleeding and pain on her lower torso as she placed her hand it, trying not to lose too much blood. Though, she knows that the demons are coming at her again, so she started running again as they chase after her. Sakura ran through the forest, still having her hand placing onto her bleeding side as she still felt the pain after that demon bit her. She turned as she saw those demons chasing after her, **_"Why are they after me?"_** she thought, **_"I don't care about that! Just keep running!"_ Inner Sakura said.** Just when she turned back to the front… she gasped when she spotted… an edge over a cliff, she quickly stopped herself as she's close to falling over the edge. Sakura was on her balance, as she looked down the ground, as she's never been this high up. "Oh shit!" she said as she almost close to falling towards her death, after she kept her balance she turned and saw those demons caught up to her as she's now surrounded. She tried to step away from them, but she's too close to the edge, **_"I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do…"_ **she thought as she trembles with the fear of death approaching to her. _**"Naruto… Sasuke-kun… anybody… help me!"**_ she thought.

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Naruto was able to catch up to Akeeba as they're now at the same pace, then Akeeba jumped off the trees to the ground as he now started running through the forest, speeding up the pace ahead of Naruto again. Naruto did the same as he jumped off the trees to the ground and chase after him again. At that moment… he was able to catch up to him as they're at the same pace again, Naruto looked at Akeeba as Akeeba looked as him, with an evil smirk still on his face, as they both kept on running. That they're on the race to get to Sakura first, **_"I'm not going to let that bastard have her,"_** Naruto thought as he glare at him. Then suddenly…

Naruto just saw Akeeba through three shurikens at him, except the shurikens are more like blades, and they're coming right at him fast. Naruto was able to duck… jump… and dodged them with a scratch on them, but little did he expect… those blade-shurikens are like boomerangs as they're spinning right him at again; but in separate directions. Two spinning and flying to the right coming at his front, and the third spinning and flying to the left coming from behind. Then…

**_Stab! Stab! Stab!_**

Naruto got hit by two blade-shurikens at the front, and one on his back, Akeeba turned his evil smirk into an evil smile when he his target got hit. But…

**_Poof!_**

It turned out that he hit a shadow-clone instead of the real Naruto, then… six shurikens appeared out of the trees. Akeeba saw them as he quickly stopped running and dodged them as they all hit the front in his way, then…

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" he heard Naruto's voice as… a bunch of Naruto clones appeared everywhere and around him.

"You're not going anywhere," they all said at the same time, Akeeba stood back up and doesn't seem surprise to see much shadow clone all around him, and he still has that evil smile on his face.

"Hn…"

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe (beast form)…**

Kiba kept on running while carrying Arkamaru, they were close of getting out of here, but they were wrong. Just when Kiba ran around the corner, he stopped himself as he and Arkamaru found themselves a dead end, yet a big open area of a circle around the ridge of the mountains. "Shit," Kiba said as there's no way out of this place, "Ruff! Ruff!" Arkamaru barked, "What's that?" he asked, communicating with him. "R-Ruff! Ruff! Ruff-Ruff! Ruff!" Arkamaru barked, "Double-shit!" Kiba said when Arkamaru told him that Dujobe is right behind them and he's heading this way. So Kiba took his time to think of a plan and quick.

A few moments later… Dujobe appeared as he followed the scent here, but he doesn't see Kiba or Arkamaru anywhere. All he sees are large boulders and stones on different places, he got up on his two paws, **_"I know you're both here… I can smell you from miles away,"_** he said as he started walking and passing each boulder and stone. **_"You both either show yourselves or I'll just smell you out,"_ **he said while growling, he can still smell Kiba's scent as he's here alright; him and Arkamaru. Just then… Dujobe stopped walking as the scent is get closer, then he led his thin, paled brown eyes at the boulder right next to him, **_"Are you both hiding there?"_** he whispered as he spread his claw out, all ready and sharp. Then…

**_Slash!_**

He scratched the boulder with his claw and made it crumbled to pieces, after that, Dujobe looked down and saw that Kiba and Arkamaru… aren't there. All he sees was some gray jacket, but with the same scent as his prey, he picked it up and took a good sniff at it. _**"So they try to leave behind part of their scent to prevent me finding them… very clever but not enough,"**_ he thought, then he looked around still seeing large boulders and stones in the way. **_"You two can't hide from me forever,"_** he said while growling, then dropped the jacket and walked over it as he continue searching for Kiba and Arkamaru.

While passing each boulder and stone… Kiba peeking at him, while holding Arkamaru as they're hiding behind a large stone. He saw Dujobe walking by, sniffing to track down his scent, he looked away as he held Arkarmaru in his arms. "I was hoping he wouldn't find it that quick," he whispered, Arkamaru whimpered quietly, "Don't worry Arkamaru, we'll get out of this," he whispered to his buddy, even though deep down, he's more worried about Dujobe hunting them down.

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

Slowly removing branches off him, Sasuke's body aches after Ibate's counter-attack, he took his time to slowly get back on his feet. He coughed out some blood then he looked up to Ibate as he looked down at him, he still sees his glowing gold marks. **_"Those marks of his must be the only cause of how he got much faster and stronger,"_ **he thought, then he saw the demonic trees turned to him, growling at him as he nearly forgot about the trees are under Ibate's control and coming after him. **_"I should just kill him and get back with Ms. Haruno,"_** Ibate thought as he's about to call out the trees to attack the Leaf ninja, getting rid of him for good.

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Akeeba chuckled evilly, "How amusing…" Naruto and his clones stare at him,

"That a child such as yourself was able to obtain much chakra with these much clones. However, a human can't possibly make this clones in one go… unless, there's a certain demon sealed inside you, is that correct? Mr. Uzumaki," Akeeba said.

"How the hell did you know my name?" Naruto asked in an anger tone,

"I know more than enough there is about you Naruto," Akeeba answered as he tipped his hat, almost covering his left eye. "I know that you're born in Konoha Leaf Village, you grew up all alone with no friends or family, and that village hates you and scared of you because of the Nine-Tailed Fox demon that the Fourth Hokage sealed you when you were born," Akeeba said. Naruto tighten his fist when he mention about his past, about how everyone hates him and he never had any family, Akeeba continues, "Of course, you're dream in life is to become Hokage, so everyone will look up to you and respect you like a hero, and never a monster."

There was silent between them, until Akeeba chuckled and then turned it to a laugh for no reason, which made Naruto a bit pissed. "I heard people dreaming of flying dragons, discovering lost valleys, and building a new world underwater, but a demon-child dreaming of becoming Hokage…?" he said and laughed, "I've heard crazy and pathetic stories during my time, but this one just hit the top five," he said while still laughing. Naruto is now passed pissed as he's now angry because Akeeba think his dream is nothing but a joke to him and he finds it funny. He tightened his fist as Akeeba kept on laughing, "How pathetic," he said as he's turned down his laugh back to a chuckle. Naruto is now furious as if he unleashed the powerful chakra of the Nine-tailed Fox, so he, along with his clones, pulled out their shurikens,

"SHUT-UP!!!" he yelled at him, then he and his clones threw their shurikens at him at the same time.

**_Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!_**

Each shuriken hit every parts of his body; arms, legs, front, back, even under his neck. Naruto and his clones were surprised that Akeeba is still standing on his feet, even with all those shurikens still plunged in his body. _**"How could he not dodge them all…? He shouldn't even be standing,"** _he thought as he watch him still standing, as he's completely unharmed. He made an evil smile on his face again, he chuckled evilly as he led his eyes at Naruto, then he said, "…Tough," and suddenly…

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe (beast form)…**

Kiba and Arkamaru are still hiding from Dujobe, as he already slashed two stones and three boulders he passed by. They can sense him coming closer… and closer… and closer… until…

_**"AAHHH!!!"**_ they both heard Dujobe screamed, as if he's in… pain. Kiba took another peek and saw… Dujobe crouched down, as he's down on his knees and his claws dug through the ground, **_"GRAAAGH!!!!!"_** he screamed again. He somehow felt each muscle inside his body, as if weapons pierced right through him, and that's not all. Kiba and Arkamaru watched him as he's groaning in pain, then suddenly… Dujobe slowly shrunk down to his normal size, all his fur slowly falling off, his claws, fangs, pointy ears, and tail slowly disappeared. During that moment… Dujobe is back to his human form as his beast transformation retreat after that pain attacked him from the inside, "What just happened?" Kiba whispered as he and Arkamaru are confused.

_**"How did this happened…? Could it be that…"**_ Dujobe thought as he's still on his knees, his hands toughing the ground, and staring at it with his paled brown eyes.

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

Sasuke was about to be attack by the demonic trees… until…

"AAHHH!!!" he heard Ibate screamed as he looked up to him, as he crouch down, placing his hand on his lower left torso, placed his other hand on his head, and got down on one knee. "AGH!!!" he screamed again, because he somehow felt daggers attacking him from the inside, and that's not just it. Somehow, the demonic trees suddenly pulled back from Sasuke, and… they slowly reversed back into normal, yet living, trees. **_"What's going on?"_** Sasuke thought after he saw the tree went back to normal, then he went back watching Ibate groan in pain.

Then at that moment… Ibate's glowing gold marks suddenly disappeared along with his entire blue eyes as it's back to his paled blue eyes,_ **"The jutsu has been cut off, which means Ms. Haruno is…"**_ he thought as his jutsu wore off so quickly at the time like this.

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Naruto spotted crows flying out from under Akeeba's cape, but that's not all. More crows kept on flying out him, but this time, each part of his body started to disappear as more crows kept on flying out of him. **_"Is this some kind of genjutsu?"_** Naruto thought as he never seen these many crows flying everywhere, and Akeeba slowly disappear as the crows flew out of him as the only things that were left behind were the shurikens that was plunged in his body. After that… the shurikens were on the ground, Akeeba disappeared right in front of him and now see crows flying around the sky. Naruto saw them as he and his clones are being circled around by flying crows, as they 'kaw' at them. Naruto stood in his position as some of the crows are flying down, and landed on each tree around them, they all looked down at them,

"Where are you Akeeba?" he yelled at the crows, they just looked at him as some 'kaw' at him, "Come out and show yourself you coward," he yelled as he's still angry at him. Then he heard the same evil chuckle again… he looked around him but doesn't see him anywhere. Until suddenly…

A sharp black feather was thrown… and just hit one of the clones,

**_Poof!_**

It 'poof' away, then a few more sharp black feathers were thrown… and hit three more clones,

**_Poof! Poof! Poof!_**

They 'poof' away, then more sharp black feathers were thrown in different direction; left and right, but mostly from above. Each of them hit every clone…

**_Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!_**

Each and every clone were hit and 'poof' away from those sharp black feathers. The real Naruto was left standing out of the open, he heard Akeeba's evil chuckle again but still doesn't see him. He looked up to where the crows are as they're still looking down at him and 'kaw' at him, _"I nearly forgot that you're one obstinate child,"_ he heard his voice, as he's somewhere above him. He still doesn't see him, but spotted one of the crows as one of them is acting differently, as if it's changing; and it is. Naruto watched as crow is changing as it beginning grow bigger and bigger than the other crows, as it grew into a size of a human, then it hid himself under it's wings as it change more, then it form… a person, and by person I mean Akeeba, as he stood on a branch looking down at Naruto. "Nevertheless, I pity your little jutsu," he said to him, Naruto glare at him again, **_"Dammit,"_** he thought.

**Edge over the cliff…**

Sakura is close to her death, between demons about to devour her and being close to the edge of the cliff, _**"I can't believe this is the end for me,"**_ she thought as she's about to be finished. Until… all the demons suddenly disappeared to thin air, which surprised Sakura, "Eh! What just…? They all disappeared? But… how could they…?" she said until… the edge broke which cause her to fall!

"AAAHHHH!!!!!" she screamed while she's falling, then her feet landed on the stone hill, "AH!!!" she screamed as she sprang one of her ankles. Then she rolled down the hill… fell off… and finally hit the ground. "Ugh," she said as she's now in pain, of her bleeding torso from the demon that bit her, and sprang her left ankle after falling over a cliff. She slowly getting back up as she covered her bleeding torso again, "I really need to watch where I step," she said to herself as she tried to get on her feet. Although, she sprang her left ankle so she can only stand on her right foot, she was panting, _**"Now I have to find a way out of here,"**_ she thought, then she was about start limp a bit leaving the area.

That is… until a crow just flew by, and spotted the pink-haired kunoichi over the cliffs, so it flew down… and landed on the ground. Then the crow quickly change as grew, and grew, and grew to a human figure as it's feathers turned to a caped, that matched the hat because the crow turned into…

"Hello my dear…" Sakura gasped when she heard a male voice, as he's right behind her, so she turned around and saw… a man wearing a long black cape and a hat, has black short hair, along with a mustache and a beard. Has bright yellow eyes, and has an evil smirk on his face whiling looking at Sakura, _**"C-Could that be…?"**_ she thought, **_"It's him! That's Lord Akeeba!"_ Inner Sakura yelled.** As Sakura finally meet Lord Akeeba in the flesh.

**To be continued…**

**Sorry it took me long, but I was able to finish this, hope you all liked it. Happy New Year to everyone, so please review me and I'll try to update the next chapter. I have you all know that the next chapter is when Sakura is about to make decision. And there's something I wanted to tell all you readers, is that the first story will take me awhile to update a chapter. It'll might take longer about next month or so, just to let you all know. So I hope you liked it and please review and thanks. Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**So sorry for the wait you guys. I was tied up with taking care of my baby nephew, and my sister is having twin nieces on the way. I was able to finish this update, it's a bit long, but I think you might like it; and... well, that's all I have to say, here you go! Enjoy.**

**The Sociopathism of Trees****; No, I'm not going to end the first story, I'm just taking my time of updating it.**

**cool44; I'm glad you liked this story, and you'll find out about Sakura and who she'll end up with.**

**1-complicated-girl; Glad you reviewed but I can't tell you that yet. Maybe next time.**

**sakurarocksyoursocks; I'm really glad you liked it. Hope you enjoy this update.**

**musicmiss18; Thanks for your review, and enjoy this update.**

**Dun!-Dun!-Duuuuun!!! Sakura has finally meet Lord Akeeba face-to-face, after being chased off and bitten by those demons she saw. Not to mention that Sasuke, Kiba and Arkamaru are still dealing with Ibate and Dujobe, as they're in one hell of trouble with these two. Until, an unexpected outburst interfered, causing Ibate's golden marks retreat and Dujobe to form back to his human from. As for Naruto, he's… **

**Sakura and Akeeba…**

With shockness in her eyes she couldn't take another step, because of the strange man looking straight at her with bright yellow eyes. He chuckled, and said, "Ah… Sakura Haruno, at last we finally meet," Sakura nearly flinched when she was about to take a step back. "Oh no please, don't leave yet… have a seat," Akeeba said then he snapped his fingers and… a boulder merged out of the ground right under Sakura's feet. Yet it was form as a chair, when it appeared it made Sakura lost balance and sat on it. Then the boulder/chair started moving as it's under Akeeba's control, pulling Sakura to him as the boulder/chair stopped right in front of him.

"There's nothing to be afraid of my dear… I'm a friend," Akeeba said with a friendly smile, Sakura just sat there quietly while looking at him. "Allow me…" Akeeba took off his hat, "To introduce myself…" he slowly bowed to her, like a gentlemen whenever they introduce themselves to a lady, "I'm Akeeba Ronakasbi, or as the children called me which is known as, Lord Akeeba," he said then laughed a bit. Sakura still haven't said a word as Akeeba stood back up and put his hat back on, he noticed her hand is covered in blood while it's on her lower torso, "I see that Ibate was able to pursue and used that forbidden jutsu I taught him," he said, **_"Forbidden jutsu?"_** Sakura thought. "Would you like for me to take a look at that injury?" he asked he led his hand towards her bleeding torso, except Sakura gasped a bit as she turned her upper body away from his hand. Akeeba stopped as he noticed her reaction towards him, so he pulled back his hand. "Oh… but of course, you had a callused day getting all the way here, ever since the beginning when my children were escorting you out of the village, those Leaf ninjas try to take you away and almost harmed you as they harmed the children. Luckily, Ibate was able to save you by the time those Leaf ninjas would've…" he said until Sakura interrupted him, "What?! No!" she finally speaks as she's now upset. "Now I have you know that your children never escorted me, they kidnapped me and took me away from my home, also, that Ibate was hitting on me and almost seduce me when he was in my mind. And I have you know that those Leaf ninjas are my friends, and they never try to harm me because they're out to rescue me…" she began to get off the chair/boulder, "And it's all because of… _Ah!_" she mumbled as she nearly forgot that she sprang her ankle. Because of it, she sat back down on the chair/boulder as she responded the pain.

"Now-now, there's no need to be meticulous," he said then he double-clapped his hand. Then two men appeared beside Sakura, as she's between two strangers, both have paled eyes like Ibate's and his group, but have different eye and hair colors. It made Sakura stuttered a bit when she's surrounded by two strange men, "You just got here…" Akeeba said then another chair/boulder appeared behind him as he sat on it. "Relax, and have some refreshment," he said, then two men held their platters to Sakura, as one of them held out some warm fresh dumplings, and the other have three sweets on a stick with a cup of herbal tea on the side. "I know these sweets are your favorites, so I was able to have my servants make them just for you," Akeeba said while looking at her as she looked at the two platters.

Then she slowly turned back to Akeeba, **_"Why is he being so nice to me? Is this some kind of trick?"_** she thought, then he said, "And don't worry about that little injury of yours…" he 'snapped' his fingers, "It's already taken care of." Sakura was confused at the moment, until she noticed her lower right torso is no longer hurting, when she checked on it, it also stopped bleeding and those bite marks from the demon disappeared. "H-how…" she was surprised that her wound is gone, "Surprised? I can do more than just that my dear," he said then he 'snapped' his other fingers. Then…

A table appeared, made of stones from the ground, in front and between Sakura and Akeeba, and Sakura noticed her sprang ankle is gone, as if he took her pain away.

"How about some music?" he said as he 'double-clapped' his hands, then three people appeared, two women with their violins and a man with his cello, as they started playing some music around her.

Sakura made an awkward look and slowly shook her head,

"Yeah, I think it's a bit too much," Akeeba said ordered his servants to stop, then they vanished,

"Now then… let's get to know each other," he said as the two men place both platters in front of Sakura,

"Help yourself, it's homemade," he said.

Sakura looked at the fresh bake dumplings, she hasn't eaten anything for hours, so she slowly took one dumpling… and took a bite of it. When she chewed it, her eyes became widen, her cheeks turned pink, and her mind sparks with excitement.

**_"WOW! THIS IS GREAT STUFF! CHA!"_ Inner Sakura cheered,** as beyond every dumplings she tasted, it's nothing compared to this, so she started eating more dumplings, and some sweets, while Akeeba just watched her enjoy herself. He just smiled as he had himself a glass of red wine,

"Now then…" he started then drank some wine.

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Naruto is surrounded by crows as he Akeeba stood among him with an evil smile on his face, "Listen boy, why don't we call it quits of you surrendering to me now and I'll let you walk off scuff-free," Akeeba said. "And let a bastard like you harm a hair on my comrade, never!" Naruto yelled, Akeeba chuckled then said, "Suit yourself… but don't you forget that I gave you the easy way out." Naruto pulled out his kunai knife, "Well don't you forget that I'll never give up," he yelled. Then he gathered up his chakra,

"Shadow Clone jutsu," he said as dozen of clones appeared, and spring into action of attacking Akeeba. Akeeba saw them coming at him, as he smirk, "Tough," he said then… the crows started flying towards the clones and made the first attack. Each and every clone were attacked by his crows, and 'poofed' away after the other, leaving the real Naruto by himself being attacked by the crows. He fell back to the ground as the crows flew back on the trees by Akeeba, he laughed as Naruto got back up, "You sure have much back-bone… for mere demon child," he said. Naruto nearly froze after what he just said, **_"Demon child,"_** he thought, among what the villagers called him when he was young, such as 'Monster' or 'Freak', he never heard someone called him 'Demon child' before.

"Since you like to play rough, I'll give you something to play with," Akeeba said as crows started flying away from the trees again and into the air. Naruto saw them fly around in the sky above him, and Akeeba… started levitating to the air as if he's flying or floating while the crows are still flying around him. He looked down at Naruto, "You don't know who you're dealing with boy," he said and then…

**_'Kaw!' 'KaW!' 'kAw!' 'kaW!' 'KAW!'_**

The crows dove down at Naruto, "Shit!" he said as each and every crow dove at him to attack, so…

**_Scratch!_**

One of the crows just scratched his left cheek with it's beak…

**_Rip! Scratch!_**

Another crow ripped his jacket and scratched his right shoulder with it's claws…

**_'KAW!'_**

Another crow started peaking and scratching his face, and scratched off his head-protector, Naruto tried to get it off his face but more crows kept on coming, peaking and scratching him everywhere. Akeeba smirked while watching the Genin being attacked by his crows...

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

Ibate was sore inside, after an unexpected attack, he lost control of his jutsu on Sakura. **_"Hopefully, Ms. Haruno reached to Lord Akeeba in time,"_** he thought then turned his attention to Sasuke, except… he's not there. He can still sense his presence, as he's coming from…

"Fire Stlye; Fireball jutsu!" he heard his voice as he quickly turned and saw an amount of fireball charging at him. With no time to dodge it, he defended himself, taking the hit from the attack.

Sasuke stood on the tree after he used his secret technique, he saw him took the hit as there's flames everywhere,

**_"I still don't get what just happened,"_** he thought. As he remembered, not too long ago, there were gold marks spread all over Ibate, that he grew stronger and faster than him, and almost took him out; until an unexpected outburst came out of nowhere that made him returned to his original stage. He got out of his thoughts as he noticed the fire dying out, except… there's no sign of Ibate, "He vanished?! Where did he disappear to?" he said, and then…

_"That's for me to know and for you to find out Uchiha…"_ Sasuke heard his voice and sensed his chakra, except he can't tell whether he's close or far away from him. But little did he expect… he somehow felt something merging under his feet, he quickly looked down but… the branch of the tree merged a form of a hand as it struck out… grabbed Sasuke by the neck and pinned him against the tree. Sasuke tried to struggle free but the tree came alive as it used it's branches to grab both his arms and legs, and made them submerge in it's trunk. Then… another form of the tree merge, with the hand still holding Sasuke's neck, as it merge to a human figure, and… the figure turned out to be Ibate as he merged out of the tree and have his hand on Sasuke's neck.

"You almost had me Uchiha, if it wasn't for that outburst interference, you would be dead by now," Ibate said as gazed at Sasuke with his paled blue eyes as Sasuke just glare at him with his Sharingan; Both face to face with each other…

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe…**

Dujobe is also sore inside, because of that unexpected attack, he won't be able to use his 'Transformation' again. Kiba and Arkamaru are still hiding from him, though he's back to his human form.

"I don't know what just happened, but I think it's enough for us to escape," Kiba whispered then he was about to take Arkamaru away from here, but… Arkamaru stopped him by biting his hand, and growled,

"Arkamaru," Kiba communicates, Arkamaru growled even more, "Are you crazy, he almost killed us back there, even if we used that jutsu that won't stop him," Kiba whispered. "R-ruff, ruff-ruff," Arkamaru said while still biting Kiba's hand, "Are you even sure you can still fight with those injuries?" he asked. "Ruff!" Arkamaru answered as he stopped biting him, Kiba turned to Dujobe at he got back on his feet, he's still worried they might not make it out of here alive, but they must finish the mission, otherwise, they might never catch up with the others to rescue Sakura. Kiba sighed, "Alright then Arkamaru, let's give it our best," he said as he and Arkamaru are about to gather up their charka to…

**Sakura and Akeeba…**

"Sakura-chan," Akeeba said while holding his wine glass, as it reflect to Sakura, Sakura looked up to him, "I know in some predicament that you're not much like everyone else in your village," he said. Sakura swallowed her dumpling, and became silent when he mentioned her friends back in her village, "That you're hardly known for your technique as a ninja, and yet felt belittled by those who are among you, such as… you're fellow comrades," he explained as he set his wine down. "That's not true, I mean… I-I do sometimes felt left behind, but it doesn't mean that… they…" Sakura couldn't find the words, Akeeba got up from his chair, "Now-now, there's no need to restrain yourself of sticking up to your so called friends, they failed to realize your special gift hidden within you," he said.

"Gift?!" she asked,

"Why yes my child, a very special gift that a unique child, such as yourself, born with a powerful source that is waiting to be unleash from within," he explained, Sakura became speechless and confused as to whether or not to believe what he said is true. So she asked,

"W-well, if I'm so you unique, why is that you wanted me on your team?"

There was silence between them, as Akeeba let go of his smile as his eyes are hidden under his hat, "Now that my dear… is not a hard one, but a simple explanation of your trouble getting here," he said. Sakura sat quietly and drank some herbal tea, she listens to him,

"By the time I heard about you, I knew immediately that you couldn't put up with your emotions stirring in the way," he started walking away from his chair, "That you couldn't help your fellow comrades, and ended up being the damsel in distress," he slowly walk around the table. "I knew that deep down, you wanted to become just like them, that they should acknowledge you as a head-strong kunoichi and not some weakling being the third-wheel in the team," he said. Sakura doesn't know what to say when he mention her feelings about her being like her teammates, then he said,

"I know what you're going through… because I've been through the same thing when I was your age."

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Akeeba still watched Naruto being attacked by crows for awhile, then he call out his crows to see if the Genin is still alive or not. He lower himself down, until his feet touched the ground, he walked over to the Genin, ignoring every black feather the crows left behind everywhere. He stood in front of him, and chuckled, "You poor, pathetic demon child, you should've taken my offer if you had the chance," he said as he looked down at him. Then suddenly…

**_Poof!_**

A log appeared! As he realized that he was messing with and talking to a clone, "A Substitution jutsu, ah," Akeeba said as he's not surprised, then he looked around to see where he's hiding. He can sensed his chakra nearby, then…

"Akeeba!" he heard his voice, as he turned around and saw the blonde Genin… with a shadow clone… gathering up some chakra on his hand.

"There's no way in hell I'll let you lay a hand on Sakura-chan," Naruto said as his clone gather up some chakra to form… Rasengan,

"Hn…"Akeeba responded as he's intrigued on Naruto's power,

"I'm gonna wipe that grin off your face," he said before his clone spun him and threw him at Akeeba, then 'poof' away after that.

Akeeba turned his body as he saw Naruto coming with his…

"Rasengan!" he yelled as he engaged his attack Akeeba…

**_BAM!!!_**

He hit him right to the center, and then…

**_BOOM!!!_**

An explosion was made from the Rasengan… and Akeeba was flying in the opposite direction, breaking through every tree behind him. Naruto was panting as he used up half his chakra, then he left his area to see if he really took him out…

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

"You're not even worthy…" Ibate said to him, Sasuke doesn't understand what he's saying until he explains, "You're maybe from a famous clan, but not even a weakling like you deserve a female such as Ms. Haruno. I rather not know what she sees in you, of course under some predicament, she'll forget you even exist." "And just what the hell makes you think that…? Is it because of this Lord Akeeba you kept mentioning?" Sasuke asked, "Precisely… and when that time comes, you're the first one in my list," he said and answered. Sasuke lift his left eyebrow when he mention him being in his list, he doesn't even know him, then Ibate gripped over his neck,

"Now you listen here Uchiha, because I'm giving you your first and only warning… don't you even think about going anywhere near my mate…" **_"Mate?! Is he referring Sakura as his mate?!"_** Sasuke thought as he's surprised to hear what Ibate said. He continues, "You should've find your own mate, she's already taken, since the fact that she doesn't want you anymore because she has me, **_'She's mine,'_** " he said and thought as he remember that very day…

**Flashback, few days ago…**

**_Ibate and Akeeba are alone in a cave, inside the mountains, with crystallized shallow water, surrounded by rare crystals, all in different sizes and shapes. They're discussing a certain matter of…_**

**_"Years had passed you Ibate, and it's around this season in search for a mate; have you chosen a female?" Akeeba asked._**

**_"I have not, my Lord," Ibate answered,_**

**_"Not even one of the females in certain clans?" he asked,_**

**_"I find them unappealing," he answered,_**

**_"Are you sure…? I mean, there are lovely young females from village to village," Akeeba said as grabbed a small crystal and placed where the light beamed from a crack, from outside. It reflected to crystal to crystal as they all started glowing, until the beam reached to the last crystal on the ceiling, as it reflected it's light on the water; as it sparkles, the water particles formed into beings of young, beautiful teens, maidens, and kunoichis as if they're really there. All the girls are in white cloth, some in dresses, and some in gowns._**

**_"Just look at them, there are plenty of lovely females who would be suitable as your mate," Akeeba said, as the 'girls' started blushing and giggling when they looked at Ibate, Ibate didn't show any response whatsoever._**

**_"Neither of them are worthy for me," Ibate stated, Akeeba looked at the 'girls', and asked,_**

**_"What about that cute blonde girl, from the Land of Lightening? She's from a wealthy clan, very healthy, and well-educated from her Academy." The blonde 'girl', which is wavy and curled, waved at Ibate,_**

**_"She's suffered a mental illness," Ibate answered, Akeeba looked at the other 'girls', and asked,_**

**_"Then, what about that lovely red-head girl from the Grass village? She's a vegetarian, has an IQ of 177, and a volunteer of child services." The red-head 'girl', which is straight and long, winked at him while smiling,_**

**_"She's emotionally disturbed," Ibate answered. Akeeba looked at twin 'girls', and asked,_**

**_"Perhaps, that sweet brunette girl from the Stone village? She's a kunoichi in a Chunin level, she's headstrong, and born in a famous clan with a Kekkai Genkai." One of the identical twin 'girls', both hairs short, blew a kiss at him, and the other is still giggly and blushing while waving at him,_**

**_"She's homosexual," he said,_**

**_"What about her twin?"_**

**_"She's bisexual."_**

**_"She committed a felony," he said to the blue, short haired girl with freckles,_**

**_"She's claustrophobic," he said to the hair braided, brunette girl with glasses._**

**_"She's autistic," he said to the medium, dark-green haired girl, wearing braces,_**

**_"She's a drug-addict," he said to the short red-head with black highlights girl, wearing mascara._**

**_"She inherited some rare disease," he said to the long, black haired girl, in a long ponytail, and has one blue on her left eye and brown on her right,_**

**_"And she has STDs," he said to the blonde curled girl, with a beauty mark on her cheek,_**

**_"None of these women are for me," Ibate stated._**

**_"My-my Ibate, even for someone with no emotions, you sure can be picky; so what I see so far that neither of these girls aren't worthy being your mate, because some are from powerful and well-known clans," Akeeba explained._**

**_"I do not require a female from neither powerful nor well-known clan… but a female who seemed rare and valuable, out of the ordinary," Ibate described, "Hm…" Akeeba took a moment to think, then said with a smirk, "I believe I know just the girl you're looking for." He turned back to the small crystal and did some adjustment to it, which cause the 'girls' to form back into the water. Then another water particle slowly formed a single being, of a beautiful female, in a white silk gown, with long pink hair and green emerald eyes, and a sweet smile for Ibate, with a cute blush in her cheeks. Ibate still show no expression for her, but he glanced at her in full view for a moment… then he started walking over the water towards her, she stood still as he walked up to her and took a good look at her, from top to bottom, and around. She giggled by the time he walked around her, Ibate looked at her as she kept her sweet smile on her face. He even noticed that with the crystals around her, it sparkles the emeralds in her eyes and made her skin look like she's glowing, as if she bright up the whole cave; like an angel._**

**_They didn't took their eyes off each other, as the pink-haired 'girl' slowly placed her hand on his cheek, Ibate can tell she's heartwarming and pure, as she's filled with love and kindness in her heart. So he touched 'her' hand, still on his cheek, and held it as he's holding 'her' other hand, then he slowly moved his face towards 'hers', and placed his forehead against her 'huge' forehead. If only she's not made out of water, otherwise, he would've touched those lovely lips of hers._**

**_"I believe we have a winner," Akeeba said with a smile, then the sun from outside was blocked by clouds, as the light beam in the cave slowly disappeared, the crystals stopped glowing, and the pink-haired 'girl' immediately form back into the water, leaving Ibate standing in the middle of the water alone._**

**_"She's perfect," Ibate said,_**

**_"She'll be a perfect mate for you Ibate… although I better keep a lookout for this… Sasuke Uchiha person," Akeeba said, Ibate turned to him, "At least that's what Kilala explained to me about him… being an interference between you and your mate. But I'm sure you can handle it," Akeeba said then he left Ibate in the cave._**

**_Ibate still stood in the center of the water thinking about what Akeeba said to him, "Sasuke Uchiha," he said 'his' name, knowing who he's competing against, then he pictured his pink-haired mate over his reflection on the water, with her sweet smile on her face. "I will not allow," he said as he's not going to let anyone, not even Sasuke Uchiha, take his mate from him… not without a fight he won't._**

**Flashback over…**

_"She's my mate Uchiha, don't you forget that,"_ then Sasuke eyes became widen as he noticed Ibate have… fangs in his teeth, **_"He really isn't human,"_** he thought then felt the tree slowly submerging his body inside it. Ibate let go of his neck and stepped away from him as he's now attached to the tree, "At first I could've let you live so I can make you my slave, but then I'll be seeing your face where ever I go… that I won't allow," he said then he gathered up his chakra on his right hand as it slowly forms… a sword, keen enough to cut anything and anyone in one shot. He has Sasuke right where he wants him; just one swing should finish the job…

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe…**

**_"Something must've happened to Lord Akeeba,"_** Dujobe thought as he stood back on his bare feet, since he reverted back to his human form, some of his clothes were a bit torn due from his transformation that nearly tore apart his clothes. Besides that, he has to find the Leaf ninjas as they're still here… somewhere… until…

**_POOF!_**

He turned to where he saw smoke at the other side, and can smell their scent there. He turned his body as he saw something within the smoke, but knows that it's those Leaf ninjas except they formed… together. By the time the smoke cleared up, he saw…

"Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf," he heard Kiba's voice as he faced… the Double-Headed Wolf of Kiba and Arkamaru's combination, as they're about ready to attack. "So you both were able to become beasts by combining eachother… if it wasn't for that unexpected outcome, I would've still be in my beast transformation, and we could've faced eachother, beast to beasts," Dujobe said while the double-headed wolf growl at him.

**_"Let show this freak how we do it Arkamaru,"_** Kiba said,

**_"Ruff!"_** Arkamaru barked as they're more than ready to fight once again. The double-headed wolf took action as it charged at Dujobe, Dujobe saw them coming as he stood to take the hit. As they're about to…

"Wolf Fang over Fang!"

The wolf started spinning in full speed, targeting Dujobe, Dujobe stood his ground, positioning himself as…

**_BAM!_**

They hit him in the front, as they pushed him, still spinning, hitting stones and boulders behind Dujobe until…

**_CRASH!_**

They crashed into the stone wall, made a huge crater on it so the wolf jumped away from it,

**_"Haha! That outta finish 'em," _**Kiba said as he and Arkamaru were able to get him. But little did they expect…

They saw Dujobe… merging out of the crumbled rocks in the crater, and sensed a strange power of his chakra, as if converge to something… demonic. They noticed some of his bones in his body were broken from their attack, but…

Dujobe started moving his body as, 'crack' 'c-crack-crack' 'crackle', his bones started cracking from top to bottom; as he's fixing his cracked skull, along with his twisted neck; his twisted shoulders, along with his broken arm; his disconnected spine, along with his rib cage that nearly broke apart; his broken hip, along with his twisted leg and smashed ankle. It shocked both Kiba and Arkamaru,

**_"He really is some freak of nature,"_** Kiba thought, as Dujobe stood back up after fixing the inside of her broken bones. He lifted his head towards the double-headed wolf,

_"I'm gonna tear you both apart,"_ he said as in a blink of an eye…

He appeared right in front of them and grabbed one of their heads, _"Starting with this!"_ he said as…

**_Slam!_**

He slammed them both to the ground, then double-headed wolf started struggling as the second head tried to bite him. Dujobe dodged it then… lift them up with both hands over his head,

**_"Hey! Put us down,"_** Kiba yelled, then Dujobe spun them around and around, and around and around and around. Until he threw them to the stone wall, by the time the double-headed wolf hit the stone…

**_POOF!_**

They form back to their original, separate, state, as they both got hurt big time, Dujobe stood in front of them, _"It's time to end this,"_ he said as his nails grew into claws, and ready to charge at them,

**_"So this is it, huh?"_** Kiba thought as this the end for him and Arkamaru…

**Sakura and Akeeba…**

There was silence between them, until Sakura spoke out, "You mean you were…"

"A Genin? Why yes my dear, I was a ninja myself when I was a child; young, handsome, intelligent, active, motivated… and a little hot-headed during my time 'chuckled'." Then he leaned against the stone close to Sakura, "I was one of the best advanced students in my Academy, I learned every category of jutsus and passed all three in every course and exams. Pretty much like you did in your Academy," he said while looking at Sakura, still didn't say a word as he continues, "I've even been put in one of the best squad members in my team, we completed every mission, passed every exam, and become known to the entire village," he said.

"… But wait, if you were famous, how come I never heard of you?" Sakura asked, then his smile slowly turned upside down when she asked him that question, he was silent at the moment as he took off his hat again, he placed it on the stone and answered, "Alas, that's a different story, but much dominant to your question and the subject. My team was known to the entire village over the next, but I wasn't an exception of being noticed to everyone, even when I'm with my own comrades, people saw me as no one. At first I was given an opportunity of becoming the best shinobi in my village… but it turned out to be a pitiful outcome of being filled with petty, lack of respect, and completely shunned by everyone over to more genuine shinobis. My own comrades want nothing to do with me, in fact… they never needed me from the very beginning, that they're way better off going to missions and training without me. So by that time, I given up being a ninja and left my home village because of my hopes and dreams were shattered, along with my crushed spirit," he said as he looked sad.

Sakura couldn't help but look at him, as she slowly felt sorry for him, "…I'm so sorry," she said, Akeeba smiled again, "No need to apologize my child, nobody's born perfect, after what I experienced from my childhood, I learned to move on and develop my own ability as I travel over the past few years. That is… when I've came crossed unique children who went through the same route as I did. The first child I met was… Ibate," Sakura nearly stuttered when he said Ibate's name, "As you already know, he can make living things and non-living things come to life, he had such powerful abilities that not only did I made him my apprentice, but also my right hand man 'chuckled again' I taught him everything I know," he said.

Then Sakura thought about her time with Ibate, despite the whole kidnapping and almost seduced her in her mind, when he danced with her in the ballroom, drift together on a canal at the river, and held her in his arms to comfort her. She even blushed when once glanced at his handsome face, despite his paled skin, blue hair, and paled blue eyes, and hardly expressed any emotions whatsoever. She got back to reality as Akeeba said, "I do apologize for his behavior on you earlier, even though he doesn't express his emotion, it's just his way of saying… he likes you,"

**_"We kind of noticed that,"_ Inner Sakura said,** as they recalled the 'kiss' he almost gave them. "And he finds you very valuable to him," he said, Sakura blushed after that, "Oh," she whispered and looked away for a moment, **_"I never knew that,"_** she thought. Then Akeeba continued the subject,

"Then after Ibate, I met… Dujobe, you might not know that he's been attacked by wild animals constantly through his childhood, but he developed much strength among them, not very much like human, oh no, but a beast himself. By the time after that, I met a lovely young girl… Kilala, even with her unfortunate blindness by an accident she had from her childhood, she can foretell the future and learned the pressure point of blocking chakras."

**_"I thought Kilala was born blind,"_ Inner Sakura said,**

**_"Me too,"_** she thought, then Akeeba continued,

"Then a time after that, I met the Zukato brothers, Myazo and Fuzca, those twins were inseparable, even with completely different abilities they both fought in comeback together; that's something that I liked about those two. And lastly, I met little Uki, I find it very impress that a very young girl develop such ability, especially with her own voodoo dolls," he said.

"So… what leaves me, why is it that you wanted to meet me?" she asked, as she really want to know, Akeeba's smile disappeared again,

"I may not give a straight answer, but a simple question. Has it ever occurred to you that no matter how much you trained, how hard you accomplished, or how much you're willing to put your life on the line, they continue to look down on you?" he asked,

"Eh!" Sakura responded when he asked her that. "I mean, they are coming to your rescue, no? They all risked their lives for your safety, yet you couldn't do the same for them," he said as Sakura eyes became sadden. He continues, "They become stronger every day, as they all surpassed you, leaving you on the sideline," her eyes slowly filled with tears, "As of now, they might care about your safety, but in the next few years or so, you'll just be an interference from completing their missions," tears overflow, as they fall down on her cheeks. "You may consider your so called friends coming to your rescue, but from my point of view, they're only doing it to complete their mission; they are ninjas after all. Are you?" he said. Sakura couldn't answer as her eyes overflow with tears and slowly broke down in despair; Akeeba watched her weep and slowly turned his frown upside down. He kneeled down to her, and lifted her chin up to him,

"There-there sweet flower," he said comforting her, then he pulled out a handkerchief for her. "There's no need for any tears my dear, you're not alone," he said as he gave Sakura the handkerchief, that she used it to wiped away her tears, "I see much potential in you, and surely you didn't work yourself up to become a kunoichi all for nothing, are you?" he asked. She blew her nose, then shook her head, "Of course not, that's why people like you and I must stick together," Sakura look at him as she's being comfort once again, "That's why I--I mean, we wanted you part of our team, so we can show people they shouldn't judge us on the outside; but what we all have inside," he said. Sakura was about to say something, until she noticed something in his teeth, for some reason, they're all sharp and longer than an original set of teeth, more like… fangs. She snapped out of it for a moment as she thought she's imagining things, then Akeeba said,

"You have a gift waiting to be unleashed inside you… and I know how to unlock it," he said.

**Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Naruto made it to other side where he hit Akeeba, passing every damaged trees, until reached towards the pile. He stopped at the pile where Akeeba is, except… he noticed some black feathers around it, he went closer to it as he saw… a crow…on the pile… but dead. "What the hell?! How did it…" he said as he took a moment to think… and then he remembered…

**Flashback…**

**_…crows flying out from under Akeeba's cape, but that's not all. More crows kept on flying out him, but this time, each part of his body started to disappear as more crows kept on flying out of him… _**

**_…he never seen these many crows flying everywhere, and Akeeba slowly disappear as the crows flew out of him as the only things that were left behind were the shurikens that was plunged in his body. After that… the shurikens were on the ground, Akeeba disappeared right in front of him and now see crows flying around the sky. Naruto saw them as he and his clones are being circled around by flying crows, as they 'kaw' at them._**

**_Little did he know… one of the crows flew away from the rest through the forest, before the rest of the crows flew down and landed on the trees around Naruto and his clones._**

**Flashback over…**

After that flashback, Naruto realized that he was fighting against a 'clone' from one of Akeeba's crows the whole time, Akeeba must have used a jutsu on the crow, in order to distract him from…

He gasped, "Oh no! Sakura-chan!" he said as he quickly left the area and back to finding Sakura before it's too late.

**Sasuke vs. Ibate…**

"Any last words before I cut you in half?" Ibate asked as he position himself to kill Sasuke, and for some reason… he made a smirk on his face,

"Like I said… there's always a counter-attack," he said. Ibate doesn't know what he meant… until he heard something lit-up, he looked up and saw… more than five or seven paper-bombs attached on trees, and they're lit-up! Then…

**_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_**

They all exploded, as damaged trees and branches started falling down on both Sasuke and Ibate, Ibate saw them coming as he quickly got of the way before huge branch broke through every branches all the way down. By the time he dodge them, he turned to where Sasuke is as he's… not there!

**_"It was a clone,"_** Ibate thought as discovered Sasuke's trick, and then… Sasuke appeared above, "It's over!" he said while falling towards Ibate, he grabbed his back and took him down with him. Except setting him upside down, and cross his foot under his neck while his head is taking a hit from every tree branch all the way…

**_BAM!!!_**

Down to the ground, Ibate's head was hit to the ground very hard, hard enough to break his skull through his entire vertebrate, Sasuke got off of him as his body fell on the ground. Sasuke looked at the body, **_"I still don't get why he called Sakura his mate,"_** he thought, speaking of it, he better catch up to Naruto to rescue their teammate. So he quickly left the body and the area to go help Naruto.

Right after he left… the body started moving, as it's 'cracking' some broken bones back into place, and Ibate… slowly got back on his feet, he cracked his neck to adjust the damaged along with his cracked skull. He turned to where Sasuke left, still show no expression whatsoever, "This is far from over, Uchiha," he said as his blue paled eyes turned paler, as he got tricks up his sleeves, **_"Just as according to plan," _**he thought.

**Kiba and Arkamaru vs. Dujobe…**

Dujobe charged them and about to claw them, until suddenly… his entire body frozen, he was so close on clawing Kiba and Arkamaru yet he can't move a muscle, **_"A jutsu,"_** he thought as someone's controlling him.

"Just in time," they heard a voice, so Kiba and Arkamaru turned and saw…

"Shikamaru," Kiba said as he's glad to see him again.

"I figured you guys needed a hand, so I was able to find the time to use my jutsu on this big guy," Shikamaru said as he used his 'Shadow Possession' jutsu on Dujobe, and saved Kiba and Arkamaru,

"A few minutes ago would've been nice," Kiba complained,

"Bark! Bark!" Arkamaru barked,

"Well you're welcome," Shikamaru said, ignoring their complaint. Then suddenly…

Seven shurikens were thrown, as they're all attached to strong thin strings, at the same time, they spun around Dujobe, still under Shikamaru's jutsu, as he's been captured. Shikamaru quickly released his jutsu by the time Dujobe got tied up, four shurikens around his top and three around his legs, which cause him to lose balance and fell to the ground.

"Fifth one captured," they all turned and saw… seven Anbu Black Ops appeared,

"Take him to the village," the captain ordered as five Anbus jumped off the cliff and got around Dujobe.

"Don't get near him, he's a vicious animal," Kiba said to warn them,

"No worries, we got him under control," one of the Anbus said as three of them got Dujobe up, then they put handcuffs on him.

"Be sure to place him with the others," the captain ordered,

"Others? You mean the other thugs?" Shikamaru asked,

"We captured all four of them; a little girl, twin boys, and a blind girl. We're placing each of them under interrogation; as for your comrades, the medical-nins are taking care them as we speak. All in the orders of the Fifth Hokage," the captain explained, then he asked, "Are there any others?"

"Just one, I don't know where but my guess is that he's somewhere in forest around the mountains," Shikamaru answered,

"I'll send some back-up there, by then, you should stay with your friend until the medical-nins get here," he said,

"Tsk… troublesome," Shikamaru said thinking the whole thing is such a drag.

Little did they know, **_"Everything's according to plan," _**Dujobe thought by the time the Anbus took him away from the area.

"R-ruff-ruff!" Arkamaru barked, "What's that?" Kiba asked, "Ruff-ruff! Ruff!" Arkamaru barked, "Now that you mention it, I kind of find it acquired too," he said, **_"Something's not right,"_** Kiba thought as he turned to Dujobe before the Anbus took him away.

**Sakura and Akeeba…**

"Unlock it?" she said,

"Yes, I can unlock your hidden ability with one…" he held out his hand, "Simple…" red particles of chakra appeared on his hand, as it slowly formed… "Feather," he said as he showed Sakura a red feather levitating over his hand. Sakura was speechless as she never seen a red feather like this one.

"With this feather, it'll not only unlock your hidden ability but also… absorb away your emotions," Akeeba explained, Sakura hesitated a bit as she almost forgot about whether to keep her emotions or not. "It's up to you Ms. Haruno, the time is now for you to choose; would you rather be a complete different person with incredible powers and become known to everyone, or stay as you are now, an average kunoichi being a burden to everyone around you and received nothing but their pity?" he asked. Sakura became silent again, as she's thinking through her thoughts…

**Flashbacks…**

**_"You're worse than Naruto," Sasuke said,_**

**_"If I had you as a teammate, I would surely die," Kabuto said,_**

**_"Face it Sakura, you'll never become strong like me," Ino said,_**

**_"You need to put your act together and become a ninja for once," Tenten said,_**

**_"I'm sorry Sakura, I can't take you on this mission, you'll just… get in the way," Shikamaru said._**

**_"Ninjas don't show emotions whenever they're in battle," Kakashi said,_**

**_"It'll be best if you lay out missions for awhile due to your last mission," Tsunade said,_**

**_"Sorry kid, from what you been through, I don't think you're cut out being a true shinobi," one the Jounin said._**

**Flashbacks over…**

The wind blew, as her eyes are hidden under her bangs, every word she heard from everyone, everybody she knew, she suddenly felt shun by their ability and overshadowed by their pity. She imagine herself standing alone while her friends are a few distant away from her, she couldn't help but watched them as they don't have a clue that she's even there; as if she's invisible or she doesn't exist. Then saw them slowly turned their backs on her, and walking away, Sakura wanted to call out for them, but couldn't get any words out her mouth, and her friends… disappeared. After what she's been through, even from the very start, she wind-up being the weakest from the rest of the Genins; and above all, her friends are coming to her rescue, like they always do. She can hardly rescue herself, from every mission, every fights, and she's the only victim that holds everyone back. She even doubts that her own teammates ever wanted her, otherwise, they wouldn't put up to this rescue mission if it wasn't for her. Plus worried she'll end up like Akeeba from his childhood, so she started thinking about what Ibate said to her…

**Flashbacks…**

**_"With no emotions, you can do whatever you want." _**

**_"If you keep hold of your emotions any longer… then you'll never become strong."_**

**_"Having emotions only get in the way, it won't help you become strong nor help you survive." _**

**_"Forget your emotions… forget your friends… become one of us so you can no longer be weak."_**

**_"There's still hope yet to come to you Ms. Haruno, there is a way for you to become strong…_** **_The only way that you'll never be weak again is by Lord Akeeba, he will take away all your emotions so you will never suffer the pain and heartache ever again… All you need to say is 'I don't want to be weak anymore', and then Lord Akeeba will take away your emotions,"_**

**_"With all your emotions gone, you will never feel any pain, heartache, happiness, sadness, anger, confusion, loneliness, hatred… or love."_**

**_"I promise you Ms. Haruno, once you say those words, everything is going to be okay."_**

**Flashbacks over…**

Could everything Ibate said to her was true? Is this the only way to end her suffering of being the weakest ninja in her village? Even if it cost her to lose everything and everyone she loved?

There was absolute silence between her and Akeeba. Akeeba stare at her as kept that evil smirk on his face, he can tell that she's thinking deeply through her thoughts. Sakura on the other hand, couldn't help but picture her friends in her mind, everyone in Team 8, 10, and Gai, but mostly Team 7, since they're the only people that protected her the most than she ever protected anyone; let alone herself. She slowly clenched her left hand as she remembers the difficulties she's been through; the first A-rank mission in the Land of Waves, the Chunin Exams through the Preliminaries, the Invasion from the Sand and Sound village, and above all… her own comrades nearly fought to the death back in the hospital. She clenched her hand more thinking about her comrades, and how she couldn't able to stop them because of her emotions. Then she slowly looked at the red feather, still levitating on Akeeba's hand, glancing at it's unique features yet sensed it's powerful source around it. Then Akeeba turned his smirk into a smile as she has kept her eyes on the red feather, and not noticing his fangs in his teeth, for real.

"_Go ahead_," he said to her as he slowly handed it to her, Sakura kept her eyes on the red feather as she slowly felt the intensity of it's energy and the urge to touch it. So her hand started moving on it's own as she's reaching for the feather, only a few meters from it until her fingers are closing in within an inch.

"I…" she said as…

**Forest…**

Naruto ran through the forest as fast as he can, **_"I better hurry before…"_** he thought until…

**_KABOOOM!!!_**

He heard a loud explosion, as he can see smoke coming from over the edge ahead, "No…" he said as he feared he's might be too late.

**To be continued…**

**_Phew!_ That almost took me forever to finish this, hopefully you enjoyed it. Please review to me since it's been awhile since I last heard from some of you. By then, I might work on another update for this as soon as I can. Thanks, and see you later.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I see some of you liked the last update, and sight to know what happens next. Well here it is, I hope you like it and enjoy!**

**sakurarocksyoursocks; I'm glad you understand, and thank you for the review.**

**Lulu-chan 101; Sorry, there was this last moment and I have to… nah, I rather not explain to you, you just need to keep on reading and thanks for the review.**

**musicmiss18; Thanks… I guess.**

**The Sociopathism of Trees; Again, sorry for keeping you waiting, I got tied up watching over my baby nephew. I'm sure you understand.**

**Katiekat; Don't worry, I won't. Though I'm curious about when you told me you like Ibate, do you like him as an interesting character or an attractive character?**

**Katiekat32; Thank you and… wait a minute, aren't you the same reviewer with the same name but using '32' at the end?**

**Katiekat32; Alright-alright, no need to be impatient.**

**unknown; Okay-okay, no need to rush.**

**Her decision has been made, yet is it too late for Naruto to save her from Akeeba? Sasuke managed to defeat Ibate, yet Ibate has other plans up his sleeve. Shikamaru was able to save Kiba and Arkmaru from Dujobe, as the Anbu Black Ops captured him along with the others. Though Kiba and Arkamaru grew suspicious on one of them, but it didn't compare to…**

**Over the edge of the mountain…**

Naruto made it to the edge as he got through the fume of smoke from that explosion, he looked over the edge as the smoke slowly disappear. He got down there, to take a closer look, and by the smoke lift he saw a figure up ahead… tall… a lot older… and just brushed off and put his hat back on,

"So… you were able to show up after all Mr. Uzumaki," he heard his voice, as he turned around and looked at him with his evil smile.

"Akeeba," Naruto said with anger,

"It's too bad you missed the fireworks," he said, Naruto doesn't know what he meant, until he heard electricity and see some red sparks. He turned to the red electric sparks, and saw another figure, but when he took a close look at it… his eyes became widen as he saw…

Sakura! As she's on the ground unconscious and glowing, but the glow is more of electricity as he can sense it's powerful source.

"She didn't see it coming nor knew it would hit her," he chuckled, as for Naruto… anger overflows through his chakra, all the way to the Nine-Tailed Fox's red chakra. Akeeba see through his anger as he sensed the fox demon's chakra in him, didn't much surprise him but was intrigue. As Naruto's eyes became red and in fox form, his fangs, along with his claws, appear, and red chakra flow all around him.

_"What have you done to her?"_ he growled,

"Let's say, I gave her a little gift, she took it and finds it… a blast! Get it, a blast?" he laughed as he thinks it's funny. It angers Naruto,

_"I'm gonna tear you to shreds for what you did to Sakura-chan,"_ he growled as he position himself to attack,

_"We'll just see boy,"_ Akeeba said as he stood his position, as… yellow chakra flow around him, his fangs and claws appeared, and his bright yellow eyes became similar as Naruto's but more demonic.

Both of their chakras flow all of their body, as the pressure around them slowly became heavy, then at that moment…

_"Multiple Shadow-Clone jutsu!"_ Naruto said as more than hundreds or thousands of clones appeared, and surrounded Akeeba,

_"Oh my, there are a thousand of you and one of me, whatever should I do?" _he asked being dramatic. Then, he pulled out a black feather, as it's gathered with glowing yellow chakra, and shot it in the air, Naruto and his clones don't know what he's doing, until he made another smirked on his face as the feather is above the air. _"Tough,"_ he said as he released his jutsu…

**_BOOM!_**

The feather explode in the air, but that's not all… over a thousand sharp black feathers shot out from the explosions and headed directly to Naruto and his clones. Akeeba grabbed the unconscious and electrifying Sakura, and quickly disappeared to get out of the way, as…

**_Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!_**

Each and every clone got hit by the sharp feathers, and 'poof' away, Akeeba appeared over the edge, while holding the electrifying Sakura in his arm, he looked over the edge as there was smoke, as the rest of sharp feathers got rid of the clones, and perhaps Naruto. But when the smoke slowly disappeared… he saw the clones being gone but no sign of Naruto down there.

_"So he managed to escape my technique ah,"_ he said as he's impress, then he sense his chakra nearby as he…

_"Akeeba!"_ he heard his voice as he appeared beside him, before he tried to turn to him…

**_KICK!_**

Naruto swung a kick with full strength to the face, it made him drop Sakura as he flew to the opposite direction and hit a tree behind him. By the time after Naruto kicked him, he turned to Sakura, as she's still unconscious,

_"Sakura-chan,"_ he said as he's more worried than ever, he tried to touch her…

**_Zap!!!_**

_"AH!"_ he screamed in pain as got a big shock by the red electricity around her, he can't touch her,

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you,"_ he turned to Akeeba as slowly got back on his feet, and he's unharmed.

_"As you could see, she's under my barrier jutsu so that weaklings like you won't lay a hand on her, and if you don't mind being electrified, feel free, but you still won't touch her,"_ he explained. _"You bastard,"_ Naruto said as he's mad than ever,

_"Now then…"_ Akeeba disappeared, and reappeared behind Naruto, _"If it's a fight you want…"_ Naruto turned until Akeeba balled up his fist and…

**_Punch!_**

Akeeba punched him in the face, as he flew and landed on the ground away from him, _"It's a fight you shall get,"_ he said. Then he took off his hat and cape, _"But I have you know…"_ he put his hat on the ground and his cape covered over Sakura, as the cape is immune to the electricity _"I don't play well with others."_

Naruto got back up, but Akeeba already did a head start as he sped in front of him…

**_Punch!_**

_"Ugh!"_ Naruto respond as Akeeba punched him in the stomach, as he flew and fell in the opposite direction again. But he quickly positioned himself and charged at Akeeba with rage, Akeeba saw him throwing his claw at him, he dodged it with no trouble. Then Naruto swung a kick at him but Akeeba blocked it, Naruto kept throwing his attack on him, but Akeeba kept dodging and block them as they're both in full speed. Until…

**_Scratch!!!_**

Naruto scratched the left side of his face, which cause his feet to slide through the dirt and away from him, Naruto got to his position after that and Akeeba just stood as his face is away from his.

_"Really now…"_ Naruto heard him speak,

_"Is this the best you could do?" _he said as he slowly turned his face towards Naruto, but with no scratch mark on his face anywhere.

_"Is this the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox?," _he said as he looked unpleased, Naruto is surprised to see he's still unharmed, then he looked at his claw he used when he scratched his face, and noticed some of them are bleeding as they're all broken.

_"How disappointing,"_ he said, and then… he disappeared… and reappeared behind Naruto, he try to turn but…

**_Kick!!!_**

Akeeba kicked him to the side of his upper torso, he flew and hit a tree behind him, and steadily stay on his feet after that attack. Until Akeeba appeared in front of him then used hammer fist and whammed him on the head, as he hit the ground very hard. Then Akeeba stomp his foot on his head,

_"You're a pathetic excuse for a 'demon' child you know? I mean, come on, you have the Nine-Tailed Fox demon for crying out loud, but instead you have no control of it whatsoever. You're an absolute disgrace as a demon vessel,"_ Akeeba said. Naruto growled as his head it stomp on the dirt, until Akeeba removed his foot, grabbed his hair and lift it, along with his entire body, they looked at each other's demonic eyes. Though Naruto's is more of a glare, and Akeeba has his smirk on,

_"Now listen here boy, when it comes to fighting a real demon, I suggest you start acting like one. You should comprehend with your inner demon, embrace it don't waste it, otherwise…"_ he let go of his hair, and already gather up his chakra on his free hand, like Naruto's Rasengan, but more golden and spiritual. Then…

**_Bam! _**

He hit Naruto right to the stomach, as he flew to the opposite directing and hit through every tree behind him,

_"YOU'RE GOOD AS WELL DEAD,"_ he yelled.

**Away through the forest…**

Sasuke jumping though the forest, as he can sense Naruto is in a fight but he's in trouble, **_"Hang in there you knuckle-head,"_** he thought. Then suddenly… he sensed some chakras nearby, and then…

"Uchiha," he heard a voice as he turned to his left and saw…

"No worries, we're here to help you," an Anbu as he and the other three Anbus, all wearing masks, are jumping through the forest along with Sasuke.

"My comrades are in trouble," Sasuke said,

"We'll take over from here, you've done enough," the other Anbu said,

"I'm not gonna leave my comrades, I'm coming with," Sasuke protest. Of course… something caught his eye as he spotted the fourth Anbu, also wearing a mask, he noticed he's about the same age as him, and the fact that he's the youngest in Anbu Black Ops, **_"Hn…"_** he thought as he grew suspicious.

**Meanwhile, back to Naruto vs. Akeeba…**

Akeeba appeared to where Naruto is at after that attack he gave him, as he passed through broken trees and branches. He stopped as he spotted a head-protector of the Leaf symbol on it, he chuckled, _"I know you're here boy, so save us both the time and come out," _he said. Then he heard something coming from behind the tree, _"Unless you like to play hide and seek,"_ he balled up his fist again and gathered up some chakra,_ "Then I found you,"_ he said. Then…

**_Punch!_**

He punched and demolished a tree in full force, as it knocked over and torn down more trees to the other **(like dominoes)**, and made a big circle. After that, there's no sign of Naruto anywhere, _"Hn…"_ Akeeba respond as it was a false alarm… until…

A fist pulled out of the ground, right in front of Akeeba, aiming on his under jaw…

**_PUNCH!_**

Naruto punched him under his jaw, and made him flew in mid-air,

_"Now!"_ he yelled, then two clones appeared as one of them swung a kick on his back, as he flew forward, then the other clone kicked him under the jaw. As he flew up to the air, that Naruto appeared in the air and…

_"Uzumaki Barrage!" _he said with full strength as…

**_KICK!!!_**

He kicked him right to the back of his head, causing him to fall back down in full speed…

**_BAM!!!_**

Akeeba hit the ground very hard, enough the make a huge crater and enough wind to blow away his hat and his cape off of Sakura. Naruto got back down and his two clones 'poof' away, he was panting as he stood near the crater and he saw Akeeba's body in the center. Then his chakra slowly went back to normal as he's back to his original state, then he slowly turned to Sakura, as she's still unconscious and full with red electricity,

"Sakura-chan," he whispered as he begin running up to her, away from the crater. Then suddenly… he felt something quickly grabbed his ankle, which cause him to trip and fell,

"What the…?!" Naruto respond as he quickly turned and saw… a root wrapped around his ankle and tighten enough so he won't escape.

"Tough…" he heard Akeeba's voice, as he slowly getting up, and reconnecting his broken bones, like Ibate and Dujobe, with a few 'cracks' on certain body parts. But mostly his neck, as he cracks it and adjust it, he looked straight at Naruto,

"That was a bit rocky, yet raggedy, move you made there, but it's about close to a start," he said as he left the crater, heading towards Naruto.

Naruto tried to get up, but more roots appeared from underground, as they grabbed and wrapped around both his arms and legs, as he's tied up.

"Now then…" Akeeba said with a smirk on his face, "I'll just get rid of you," he said as his right arm slowly formed into a sword, and closing in on Naruto.

Naruto saw him going for the kill, he tried to break free, but the roots are squeezing him, tight enough so he won't escape, and under Akeeba's control.

"This… is the end of the line for you, Mr. Uzumaki," Akeeba said as he's about to swing his sword at him, Naruto is about to be good as dead… until suddenly…

A net burst, after it was thrown and heading towards Akeeba. Akeeba saw the net as… it caught and pulled him away from Naruto, and pinned him against the tree beside him, Naruto saw that then saw… five people appeared, four Anbu Black Ops and Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sasuke said,

"Sasuke," Naruto said as he's glad he's alright, Sasuke got his kunai knife out as he started cutting off the roots off of Naruto,

"What happened to the last thug?"

"I took care of him," Sasuke answered and was able to cut off all the roots.

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke asked, Naruto didn't answered when he mention their kunoichi, instead he turned to where she is, Sasuke turned to where he's looking as he also saw Sakura still unconscious, and filled with red electricity all over her body,

**_"What the hell…?!"_** Sasuke thought as he can senses the energy from the electricity. So with no hesitation, Naruto and Sasuke ran up to Sakura, but little did they know, the fourth Anbu saw them running up to the pink-haired kunoichi while the two Anbus tied up and arresting Akeeba.

Naruto and Sasuke appeared in front of Sakura, "Is this some kind of jutsu?" Sasuke asked as he reached over, "Sasuke wait--" Naruto tried to stop him but,

**_Zap!!!_**

"AH!" Sasuke respond to the pain after he got shocked, "That Akeeba put a barrier on her, even I can't touch her," Naruto explained. Then two Anbus came,

"Is this Ms. Haruno?" the third Anbu asked,

"Yes, but she's under some barrier jutsu," Sasuke answered, then the fourth Anbu walked up to her, passing between Naruto and Sasuke.

"Don't get too close, you'll--"

"I know what I'm doing, you two just stay back," the fourth Anbu said as he approached Sakura, he knelt down as he looked at her, and the red electricity all over her. So… he performed some hand-signed and gathered up some chakra, and his right hand started glowing blue, but more of electricity like Akeeba's barrier. Which caught Sasuke's attention after he performed a ninjutsu, he's more suspicious than before, **_"Who is this guy?"_** he thought, that he knows almost every Anbu in the village, but never seen him before.

**_"Now then…"_** the fourth Anbu thought as he reached his right hand over her, then…

**_ZzzaaAPpP!!!_**

The blue and red electricity collide, as the Anbu is pushing as hard as he can to break through the barrier, Naruto and Sasuke saw him trying to break the barrier, though Naruto is more worried if Sakura is alright. There was much intensity between the electrical currents, as the Anbu can feel the barrier starting to break,

_"…Mgh…nh…" _surprisingly, Sakura muttered as if she tried to regain consciousness, which caught Naruto's attention after he saw and heard her muttered,

"Hey--" Naruto said to the Anbu, but the third Anbu stopped him,

"Stay out of this," he said to him.

The fourth Anbu can feel the barrier breaking, as the blue electricity is overcoming the red electricity, then…

**_Break (ZZAPP!!!)_**

He broke the barrier, and Sakura is out of Akeeba's jutsu,

"He broke it," Naruto said as he 's surprised, though Sasuke isn't surprised or impressed, he's still suspicious about him, **_"How is it Naruto and I can't touch her, but he can?"_** he thought.

Sakura muttered again as if she's hurting inside,

"She needs medical attention," the fourth Anbu said as he picked her up and holding her bridal style, he turned to Naruto and Sasuke,

"We'll take her back to the village, you two done enough for this mission," he said as he the third Anbu started leaving the area,

"I'm comin' with," Sasuke said,

"Don't leave me behind," Naruto said as he and Sasuke followed them.

"We're placing you under arrest for kidnapping a young shinobi, and trespassing our territory, you're going to be place under interrogation before deciding your punishment," one of the Anbu said as they have Akeeba, just as the fourth Anbu ran pass him… he made an evil smirk on his face while watching the Anbu taking the pink-haired kunoichi away from this area. Sasuke quickly noticed his look before the Anbu's took him away, he made a suspicious look again as he turned back to the fourth Anbu, even though he's on their side he doesn't trust him for some reason.

Within less than a moment, they all left the area and return back to the village.

**Returned to the Leaf village, hospital…**

All the Genins, Chunins, Jounins, and Anbus returned from their mission, as they arrested the thugs and their leader, and Sakura is placed in the hospital, along with the other comrades.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi are at the door waiting for the result from Tsunade checking on Sakura, Naruto is busy pacing back and forth all worried.

"What's taking her so long? Grandma should be finish by now," he said,

"Take it easy Naruto, she'll be finish when she's finish," Kakashi said trying to calm him down, as for Sasuke, his mind is somewhere else as he's still thinking about that fourth Anbu, how is it that this guy around his age, be an Anbu and never saw him before until today?

"Somebody's a bit hasty," they heard a voice as they all turned and saw…

"Shikamaru," Naruto said,

"What brings you here?" Sasuke asked,

"Just a thought of checking you guys checking on your comrade," Shikamaru answered.

"What about the others, Choji, Neji, Shino, Bushy-brow, and Kiba? Are they okay?" Naruto asked,

"The others are fine, though… Neji, Shino, and Kiba had some minor injuries. Shino is getting some stitches on his shoulder, Neji's injury on his back are being treated and he's coming down with a flu, so I rather not be near him if I were you, and Kiba, along with Arkamaru, are being bandaged and treated as well for some of their broken body parts," Shikamaru explained.

"What about you, Choji and Bushy-brow?" Naruto asked,

"Some of my body parts are still sore but I'll manage, Lee has minor injury but nothing serious, same with Choji as he already left the hospital to the buffet, I'm meeting him later. So is there any news about Sakura?" Shikamaru said,

"Gah… no, Grandma Tsunade is still checking on her, and we've been waiting for hours," Naruto said,

"It's only been thirty minutes," Sasuke corrected him,

"Well excuse me for being all worried about if Sakura is alright, after those thugs kidnapped her, and that Akeeba harmed her," Naruto protested.

"Now settle down Naruto," Kakashi said

They heard someone coming out of the door, as they turned and saw…

"Grandma Tsunade," Naruto said as she appeared, he immediately ran up to her,

"How is she? Is she alright? Is she hurt? Is she in a coma? Have a concussion? She's going to be alright, right?" he asked her as her eyes are widen a bit.

"First off, calm yourself down, second of all, you're in my space…" Tsunade placed her finger on his forehead, and gently push him away from her, and out of her space,

"And third, she's going to be fine, just need some rest for tonight and she'll be all better in the morning," she said.

"So there's no injury or any problem on her?" Kakashi asked,

"As I checked her body and chakra, there were no scratches, burns, broken bones, or under any jutsu, she was completely unharmed," Tsunade explained. Then turned her attention to Shikamaru,

"All I can say is a job well done for completing the mission, for retrieving Sakura and arrested those groups," she said,

"Yeah… it was such a drag though, but a lot more troublesome than other missions I've gone," Shikamaru said.

"It'll be best if you all head home and rest, you've earned it," Tsunade said then left them, Shikamaru already left to meet up with Choji.

Kakashi is ready to leave, but turned to his two comrades as their minds are somewhere else, "Not to worry you two, we'll visit her tomorrow morning, and hopefully everything would be back as it use to be," he said to them to cheer them up.

Though, being back to where they're use to be isn't exactly what they're thinking about, Sasuke is still suspicious about that fourth Anbu, when he was able to break through Akeeba's barrier on Sakura, and the fact he appears out of nowhere whatsoever. As for Naruto… he couldn't forgot what Akeeba said to him while they were fighting,

**Flashback…**

**_"You're a pathetic excuse for a 'demon' child you know? I mean, come on, you have the Nine-Tailed Fox demon for crying out loud, but instead you have no control of it whatsoever. You're an absolute disgrace as a demon vessel… Now listen here boy, when it comes to fighting a real demon, I suggest you start acting like one. You should comprehend with your inner demon, embrace it don't waste it, otherwise… YOU'RE GOOD AS WELL DEAD!"_**

**Flashback over…**

**_"Why did he even tell me that?"_** he thought then he changed his thought about Sakura, and remembered the explosion before he found Sakura under Akeeba's barrier. **_"What does he want with her in the first place?"_** he thought as he's back to the very first question he's curious about before, during, and after the retrieval mission.

"I'm heading home now, I'll see you later," Sasuke said as he left Naruto, and the fact it's already getting dark, Naruto turned to the door where Sakura is placed, he wanted to go in to check on her, but apparently she's being guarded by one of the Anbu Black Ops and knows they wouldn't allow him in. So instead… he turned away and started heading home.

**Night time…**

Sakura is placed in bed resting, but wasn't alone as she's being guarded by one of the Anbus, as he's watching over her. Though, the Anbu was none other than… the fourth Anbu from before, and for some reason… he was setting up some flower pots, filled with soil and seeds, around the bed, arranging it for tomorrow morning. After he set the last pot near the window, he turned to Sakura, still resting, as he walked up to her and glanced at her. Even as she rest, she's still look beautiful, along with the moonlight beaming over her, making her skin glowing and strands of her hair sparkles. He slowly touched her smooth cheek with his fingers, and slid up towards her forehead; he stopped where her bangs are, and moved the bang from the right side with his thumb. Then saw… a 'golden mark' symbol glowing on her forehead, given by… Akeeba himself.

**_"You'll be ready within one week… Sakura-chan,"_** he thought then slowly removed his hand away from her face, then gather up his chakra focusing on the seeds in the soil. Then… the seed started expanding, already sprouting some roots and the stems reached and break through the surface, within each and every flower pot, plants started growing and forming…

**Morning, Day 1…**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi arrived at the hospital visiting Sakura, not only that… Naruto bought some flowers for Sakura, just to express his feelings. "You're a bit nervous," Kakashi said to Naruto,

"Nervous… me… of course not, just a thought of giving her some flowers," Naruto said,

"You're planning to ask her out, are you?" Kakashi asked.

"W-well… yeah, it's just that… there's this new restaurant down by the lake, and this is an opportunity of finally ask her to go on a date with me, there's no way Sakura-chan could turn down that kind of offer," Naruto explained,

"Good luck with that," Kakashi said.

They all made it to the room, when they opened and entered, they made a surprise look on their faces as they saw… a bunch of flowers, on each and every pot, and around the bed where Sakura is.

"What the heck?! How did all of those get here?" Naruto said as he's more surprise of how many flowers are there. But thanks to his loudness, it woken up Sakura, as she found herself surrounded by beautiful flowers,

"Oh my…" she whispered as she sat up,

"Sakura-chan," she turned and saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. She made a smile, "Guys, I'm so glad to see you again," she said,

"Well it's good to see you too Sakura-chan," Naruto said. Sakura got off the bed, "Where are all these flowers come from? Is it from you guys?" she asked,

"It wasn't from us, maybe some anonymous person send them as a 'get well' present," Kakashi said.

Then Naruto presented a bouquet of flowers to her, "These are for you," he said with a smile, "Oh thank you Naruto-kun, you're so sweet," she said, he blushed a little as he gave her the flowers. "Don't mention it, it's my way of saying…" Naruto stopped himself as he noticed some different about her hair, "Say… did your hair grew?" he asked, Sakura touched her hair as she notice it grew a length and touches her shoulder. "That's somethin'," she said as it's longer than her original.

While they're talking, Sasuke was observing the plants, he can also tell some of them are very rare and they're impossible to find all over the world,

**_"Who could possibly have these rare flowers from all over the continent?"_** he thought then he plucked one of their leaves and rub it's texture with his thumb,

**_"Judging by this moist and well-substance, these plants were grown last night,"_** he thought.

"So when are you getting out of here Sakura-chan," Naruto asked,

"I guess once my mom picks me up, why?" she asked,

"I wanted to ask if…"

**_Knock-Knock-Knock!_**

They heard someone knocking as they turned to the door, and saw…

"Sorry to interrupt your visit, but there's a special delivery for you Ms. Haruno," the nurse said,

"A special delivery," Sakura said as she's a little surprise, she never had a special delivery before. Then a delivery man came in with a delivery of… a cute stuffed chibi kitty,

"Oh my gosh!" she said with a surprise and exciting look on her face, which cause her to drop the bouquet Naruto gave her, then the man handed her the stuffed animal,

"This is the cutest little thing I ever seen, who's it from?" she asked him,

"Can't say, all I know is from a young fella," the delivery man said then left the room. Sakura notice a small card on the kitty,

"A card," she said as she took the card and started reading it out-loud,

_"Hope you liked the flowers I got for you, just to let you know that whenever I see a next flower bloom, I'll be thinking of you."_

_- Your Secret Admirer._

Sakura blushed after reading the card. Naruto saw the look on her face, as he couldn't help but felt a bit scorch of jealousy in his body,

**_"Who is this 'Secret Admirer' that sent her those flowers and that stuff animal?"_** Naruto thought as he watched Sakura hugging her chibi kitty.

"Oh I'm sorry Naruto, what were you about to ask me?" she said,

"Right, I've been meaning to ask if you would…"

"Oh so sorry, your time is up," the nurse said,

"Already, but we just got here," Naruto said,

"Sorry, rules are rules" she said.

"Not to worry, by the time my mom picks me up, I'll see you at the bridge later on," she said, Naruto would protest, but, "…I guess," he said as he, Sasuke, and Kakashi left the room, and Sakura is by herself, still hugging her stuffed kitty.

Then she walked up to the flowers, as she touched and smelled them, they're so beautiful and very rare; whoever her secret admirer is he sure got her attention. Then Sakura looked through the window and spotted… an Anbu Black Op outside, standing on top the hospital on the other side, as he's staring at her across from him. Sakura blinked a few time as she curiously stared at him, staring at her, even though he's wearing a mask, she can tell he kept his eyes on her. Then suddenly… her green emerald eyes turned pale and her expression became blank, her background disappeared into the dark shadow that she and that Anbu are the only ones left.

Then the Anbu slowly extend his hand over to her, Sakura felt everything coming closer as he's not far away from her, then she slowly extend her hand, reaching over to his. Their hands were about to embrace until…

"Sakura," Sakura immediately snapped back into reality as her eyes went back to normal, and the background returned to the room, she turned to the door, "Mom," said before her mother embraced her,

"Thank goodness you're okay, I was worried sick about you," she said while hugging her daughter. While being hugged, Sakura turned her head back to the window where the Anbu is, except… he's no longer there.

"Don't ever disappear on me again," Mrs. Haruno said after she let go of the hug, Sakura turned back to her momther,

"I'm sorry mom, it won't happen again," she said, then her mother was about to say something until she noticed her hair,

"Honey, did your hair grew?" she asked her daughter.

**Outside…**

The Anbu hid himself behind the pillar, away from her sight, stood silent as he almost had her at that 'moment', their hands almost touched. He slowly turned to her again, except she's talking to her mother, not noticing he's watching. He can even hear them through the glass window…

_"Where did all these flowers come from? Who send them to you?"_ Mrs. Haruno asked,

_"I don't know who exactly, all I know he's some secret admirer,"_ Sakura answered, as they're talking about the flowers he grew last night.

His eyes are focus on her, **_"You'll be mine soon,"_** he thought then he disappeared.

**An hour later, in Prison…**

Akeeba is placed behind bars, sitting at the center of the cell by himself, all chained up, wrists and ankles, as his eyes were close; he didn't bother struggling or think about escaping, but he's waiting… Then,

**_Door unlocked! CreeeK! (Opening the door)_**

He heard someone coming, but made a smirk on his face as recognized 'his' charka.

He lift up his head, and saw… the fourth Anbu standing in front of the bars, looking ay him, Akeeba chuckled and said,

"Despite on short notice, you've done a fine job… Ibate," the Anbu slowly removed his mask, and revealed his face,

"Just as according to plan… my Lord," Ibate said. They planned this by the time…

**Flashback, …**

**_Yesterday, back in the forest…_**

**_Six Anbus appeared in the forest in the east side of the mountains, they saw some damaged trees and used paper-bombs,_**

**_"There was a fight here," one of them said. As they stood in front a crater on the ground, "It all happened less than… a minute ago," the other explained,_**

**_"That can't be right, if there a fight not too long ago, then shouldn't there be…" the leader said until…_**

**_Trip!_**

**_"Ah!" he responded as he got tripped and fell down, he turned to the others as he's getting up, "Okay, which one of you jack-ass tripped me?" he said as he's now pissed._**

**_"Wasn't me,"_**

**_"Or me,"_**

**_"Don't look at me,"_**

**_"I wasn't paying attention,"_**

**_"I wasn't even near you," they all answered. So the Anbu looked down and saw… a root on the surface, as it tripped him, "How did that get there?" he said,_**

**_"That wasn't there from before," the other said. Then two Anbus saw something moved a few distant away from them,_**

**_"You saw that?" the first Anbu asked,_**

**_"I saw it, but I'm not sure I wanna believe it," the second said._**

**_"Believe what?" the leader asked,_**

**_"That a tree was… alive… and it just moved," the first answered,_**

**_"Since scientifically we're surrounded by 'biotic' trees, but there is no matter of fact that trees move on its own," the leader said in disbelief. "If you're all done wasting time, we should head out and…" he felt the root gripping over his ankle,_**

**_"What the…?!" he said, trying to pull his ankle away, but the roots won't let go of him, as if it has a mind of it's own._**

**_"AHH!!" he turned to his comrades, but as they're under attack… by trees!_**

**_"AaHh!" one of them screamed as he and his partner got pulled away and hung upside down by a branch,_**

**_"Get off me!" the other struggle to break free, but the branches tightened him. The other Anbu try to fight off the branches, but got tied up and pinned against a tree behind him,_**

**_"No-No! No-No! NO!!!" the other cried as he clawed through the dirt as he's being dragged away by vines, also pulled up upside down, but into to the tree,_**

**_"They're alive!" the leader said as he can sense an amount of chakra from them… except they're being controlled by someone. He tries to go help his comrades until… more roots appeared from the ground and grabbed his wrist, and pulled him down to the ground. When he hit the ground, it made his mask fell off. Then more roots appeared and wrapped around his arms, legs, and the rest of his body, and pinned him down to the ground,_**

**_"Somebody set a trap," he stated, as he can feel the roots tighten him so he won't escape._**

**_"Right on time," he heard a voice, as he manage to turn to a tree that appeared in front of him, something merged out of it's trunk, a human figure, as he stepped out of the tree and pulled the rest of his body out of it. Ibate looked down at the leader, with no expression on his face, and his clothes are still torn after fighting Sasuke, he walked up to him,_**

**_"So it was you, you're doing this," the leader said, Ibate didn't answer as he turned to the mask he dropped._**

**_"I demand you release me and my comrades at once," he demand, but Ibate ignores him as he knelt down and picked up the mask,_**

**_"This will do," he said while looking at the mask._**

**_"Listen you little brat, once I get out this I'm gonna kick your ass," he said as he's now angry,_**

**_"I don't find it possible," Ibate said to him, then turned to him with is paled-blue eyes,_**

**_"From what I'm about to do to you, you won't be going anywhere for awhile," he said, then his paled-blue eyes turned paler. The leader saw his pupil changed and can sense he's not human, then in one blink…_**

**_"What the…?!" he said as he now found himself attached to a tree, and out of his uniform, except wearing a shirt and boxers. Then he looked down at Ibate as he saw him wearing his Anbu uniform, despite their sizes, Ibate did some changes of his uniform so it will fit him like a glove._**

**_"You little bastard," he cursed at him,_**

**_"Like I said, you won't be going anywhere for awhile," Ibate said, then he turned to the five Anbus the trees captured,_**

**_"As for you five, you are all working for me," he said._**

**_"Ha, as if they'll ever work for a monster like you," the leader said, but Ibate ignored him once again, his eyes turned paler once again but this time he's focusing on the branches._**

**_Little did they know, each branch they're caught on, have something growing on them… plants growing and forming beautiful blue flowers. Except they're alive too, as before they 'bloom', they all turned to the Anbu's as they're targeting them, and then…_**

**_"Tough," Ibate said as he ordered his flowers to bloom! They bloomed and…_**

**_Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!_**

**_"AAAHHH!!!" they Anbu's cried in pain, as they've been shot by thorns, some on their necks, shoulders, chest, knees, and certain areas of their body. Then after that…the trees released and drop all of them as their entire body started twitching top to bottom,_**

**_"What did you do to them?" the leader said as he watched his comrades twitching on the ground with no control._**

**_"Just a little serum from the thorns of my flowers, as they flow through their nerve system which connects to their brains, within less than a minute, they'll be under my control," Ibate explained._**

**_Then the leader turned back to Ibate, he suddenly noticed something about him, as he recognized his face from somewhere… until he relies,_**

**_"Wait a minute…" Ibate led his eyes towards him._**

**_"You're one of the missing children that disappeared from every village," Ibate became silent as he continues,_**

**_"Aren't you…" he took his time to remember the name… then said, "Kyro Mushori? The kid who disappeared at the Cloud village? We've been searching for you for years," the leader said. Ibate stared at him after what he just said, not only that, his left hand started to tremble on it's own, but he quickly gripped over it with his right hand to make it stop._**

**_"What happened to you Kyro?" the leader asked, Ibate stared at him as he let go of his left hand… and then he said,_**

**_"I don't recall that name," then he 'snapped' his fingers, and then… a bunch of vines appeared in front of the Anbu, as they started wrapping him up, "No wait!" he said before the vines covered his mouth. The rest of the vines kept wrapping him until he can no longer see sunlight, he stare at Ibate before being covered by his thick vines._**

**_Ibate turned to the Anbu's as they all slowly got back on their feet, except their eyes are now pale and under his control, thanks to the serum._**

**_"Now then…" Ibate said as he puts on the mask to cover his face,_**

**_"You two head back to the Leaf village, and you three come with me," he said,_**

**_"Hai," they all resond to their 'new' leader, then the two went back to the village, and the three followed Ibate in the opposite direction, before catching up with Sasuke… to Naruto… with Akeeba… to Sakura._**

**Flashback over…**

During yesterday mission, Ibate took down and control a group of Anbu Black Ops and masquerade as one of them in order to sneak back into the village unnoticed, and to keep an eye on a certain kunoichi.

Akeeba chuckled again, "I always knew these imbeciles are easy to fool," he said as Ibate got down kneeling to Akeeba,

"You might be aware that Ms. Haruno is slowly processing from your jutsu," Ibate said,

"Ah yes, Ms. Haruno's beginning process will accrued, and when that day comes, she'll be one of us," Akeeba said as he can feel her energy from the feather he gave her.

"And what such luck too, that while you're under disguise, you'll be spending some quality time with your mate," he said, though Ibate didn't respond but pictured Sakura in his mind. "Just be sure not to blow your cover, we won't want any suspicion by the end of this week," he said,

"Yes my Lord," Ibate said,

"Good, now leave me," Akeeba ordered him, then Ibate put the mask back on, then left the cell.

**To be continued…**

**I hoped you all liked it. In case to those who don't know is that I finally updated, Heart of the Cherry Blossom Pt. 2, not too long ago. Just so you all know. Okay, please review me, and I'll try to update the next chapter. Thanks. Babykat out! ^_^**


	11. Chapter 11

**I see some of you looove the last update, and sight to know what happens next. Well here it is, enjoy…**

**ImaginationAngel; Thank you.**

**SasuSakuFan4ever789; Thank you.**

**sakurarocksyoursocks; Will do.**

**SasuSaku15394; I'm still glad you like one of my characters.**

**yuchi1994; Thank you for your review.**

**The mission is finally over and accomplished, as the retrieval squad retrieved Sakura and arrested the group, including Akeeba. Almost all of them, except Ibate, as he took down and control a group of Anbu Black Ops, and disguise as one of them in order to sneak back in the village, with no suspicion whatsoever. However, Sasuke is already suspicious of him, but unaware of his identity; though he attends to find out. Right after…**

**Village, at the bridge…**

Naruto and Sasuke are hanging out at the bridge, their sensei already left them as they're waiting for their kunoichi.

**_"I still like to know who this secret admirer is. For all I know, it can't be teme, Neji, Shino, or Shikamaru, so they're out, Bushy-brow would hardly send one flower to her, Choji wouldn't even send any flowers let alone a gift, and Kiba…"_** he thought, "Nah," he said with disbelief.

Sasuke still have the leaf back from the hospital, still wondering how those plants grew rapidly last night, then his thought went back on that fourth Anbu, **_"I wonder…"_** he thought. Then they heard…

"Hey guys," Sakura yelled

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said,

"Sorry for making you guys wait, my mom and I was busy taking the flowers out of the hospital to the house," Sakura said.

"Say, is your mom okay with you out again? Because of what happened to you, she was worried like crazy," Naruto asked as he's a little concerned,

"At first she doesn't want me to go out for awhile, but when I mention you guys, she's comfortable about it," Sakura answered,

"Oh," Naruto said. Sasuke placed the leaf back into his pocket, as he turned to his teammates.

"You guys maybe want to go somewhere, perhaps like… the Ichiraku's?" she asked,

"Now you're speaking my language," Naruto cheered, every time when they mention Ichiraku's and his ramen, he's up for it. So they left the bridge, and on their way to Ichiraku's.

**Ichiraku's…**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura just ordered their ramens, though something's bothering Naruto as he turned to Sakura,

"So everything is okay?" he asked,

"Everything's fine, why you asked?" she asked,

"It's just that… what happened yesterday… did that guy, Akeeba, did or say something to you?" Naruto asked. Sakura became silent for a moment, as she remembered…

**Flashback…**

**_He chuckled, and said, "Ah… Sakura Haruno, at last we finally meet,"…_**

**_"There's nothing to be afraid of my dear… I'm a friend," Akeeba said with a friendly smile, Sakura just sat there quietly while looking at him. "Allow me…" Akeeba took off his hat, "To introduce myself…" he slowly bowed to her, like a gentlemen whenever they introduce themselves to a lady, "I'm Akeeba Ronakasbi, or as the children called me which is known as, Lord Akeeba," he said then laughed a bit._**

**_"Relax, and have some refreshment," he said, then two men held their platters to Sakura, as one of them held out some warm fresh dumplings, and the other have three sweets on a stick with a cup of herbal tea on the side. "I know these sweets are your favorites, so I was able to have my servants make them just for you," Akeeba said while looking at her as she looked at the two platters._**

**_"Now then… let's get to know each other," he said as the two men place both platters in front of Sakura…_**

**Flashback over…**

"All I remember is that he was being nice to me, we talked, and he gave me something… red, I believe it was some kind of feather," she said,

"So he didn't harm you or anything?" Sasuke asked,

"No, I thought he would, but he didn't," she answered

"Then what did he want with you in the first place?" Naruto asked, as he gotta know.

Sakura became silent for a moment when he asked that, she once asked him about that too when she met him, then he explained everything of why she was kidnapped and taken to meet him, and bit of history on the childen Ibate introduced her to. She personally didn't got over what Akeeba said to her about Ibate's feelings for her. Of course, she remembered what Akeeba said to her before he present her the red feather...

**Flashback…**

**_"I see much potential in you, and surely you didn't work yourself up to become a kunoichi all for nothing, are you?" he asked. She blew her nose, then shook her head, "Of course not, that's why people like you and I must stick together," Sakura look at him as she's being comfort once again, "That's why I--I mean, we wanted you part of our team, so we can show people they shouldn't judge us on the outside; but what we all have inside," he said._**

**Flashback over…**

"…I asked him that, but… he didn't reply," she lied,

"Oh..." Naruto said, **_"Ah man,"_** he thought, as he hoped she might know what Akeeba want with her.

"Here you go you three, enjoy," Teuchi said as he and Ayame handed over and placed their ramens in front of them.

They started eating, as usual Naruto ate a batch of ramens he likes, though... Sakura's eyes suddenly turned pale while staring at her bowl of ramens. Then she started eating the noodles, around the same pace as Naruto's, she finished it within less than a minute, then she handed her bowl to Teuchi,

"Oh, you want seconds?" he asked, she nodded, though giving him a blank expression, a moment later, she has her seconds. Then after that, she ate more, and more, and more, and more. Naruto and Sasuke slowly noticed her eating more ramens, as they stared at her as she kept eating,

**_"Isn't she even full yet?"_** Sasuke thought,

**_"She eats more ramens than me,"_** Naruto thought.

_"Not yet,"_ a voice said,

Then Sakura's eyes quickly changed back to normal after she heard that mysterious voice in her mind, as she stopped eating her seventh or eighth bowl. She noticed how many bowls she has, as she slowly turned to her teammates, even Techi and Ayame, as they stare at her in random expression,

"Who would a thought a young lady like you could put up such an appetite," Teuchi said,

"That was… weird," Ayame said with a smile, and a twitchy eyebrow.

"You okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as he's a little concerned, and surprised as he never seen anyone, let alone a girl, eats more ramens than him. Sakura's face slowly turns red as she's now embarrassed, so she drops everything,

"I-I think I should go now…" she got off her chair, "I'll see you later, Mr. Uzumaki, Uchiha," she said as left them,

**_"Did we just call them by their last name?!"_ Inner Sakura said,**

"Since when did she call me by my last name?" Naruto said, Sasuke didn't say anything but noticed it too. Then something caught Naruto's eye, as he spotted... a wallet on the ground, **_"Oh man, she dropped her wallet,"_** he thought, then he picked it up, and about to chase after her,

"NARUTO!" Teuchi yelled, Naruto stopped and turned to him, as he forgot to pay for the ramens, "Oh, sorry," he said, as he quickly took his froggy wallet to pay for the ramens.

While Sakura is heading home, she's unaware of being watched by a shadow on a building, standing beside a huge tank, waiting for the right moment to...

"Hey, Sakura-chan," she stopped as she heard Naruto's voice, she turned around,

"You forgot your wallet," Naruto said as he's running up to her,

"Naruto," she said, until...

An unexpected outburst occurred when a giant tank on top of the building, begins to fall… right where Sakura is standing. Before she knew, a huge shadow appeared around her, as something is falling from above, she quickly looked up as the tank is coming right at her,

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, and Sasuke think fast, as he quickly disappeared and reappeared right where he's about to save her… until, a figure also appeared, but in the opposite direction… and beat him to it, as he sprang, swoop Sakura off her feet and away from the tank at the same time. By the time the figure sprang passed Sasuke, Sasuke saw him as he passed him, it was none other than… the fourth Anbu from yesterday mission. After that, Sasuke quickly got out of the way when…

**_BAM!!!_**

The tank hit the ground very hard, lucky no one got hurt, as Sakura is saved once again… by the fourth Anbu.

"You can open your eyes now," she heard a voice, as she's gripping over his sleeves, she opened her eyes as she found herself alive and unharmed; She even noticed she's being held, in bridal style, in someone's arms, which are fairly muscular, she slowly looked up to him, as he's an Anbu wearing a mask,

"It's okay, you're safe," he said as he placed her back on her feet.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Naruto said as he rushed over, she turned ot him,

"I-I fine, I… um…" she couldn't find the words as she turned back to the Anbu, which so happened to removed his mask, and revealed his face to her. Sakura blushed when he saw his handsome face, as he has sapphire eyes, black rave-like short hair, and nearly the same skin complexion between her's and Sasuke's.

"You surely gave everyone a fright back there Ms. Haruno," he said as his voice making him sound older, since the fact he's about two-inches taller than her and he's around the same age as her, Naruto, and Sasuke,

"You know my name?" she asked,

"You may not remember me, but I was there on the mission to retrieve you… now I see why," he said while smiling at her. Sakura became silent, then he extended his hand,

"I'm Kyro Mushori by the way," he introduced himself,

"S… Sakura," she answered as she shook his hand,

"Sakura, that's a lovely name," he said, then Naruto slid between them,

"The names Naruto, Sakura's teammate," he introduced himself,

"Hello," Kyro said.

"You're one the Anbu's that helped us on our mission, right?" Naruto asked,

"Yes I am, and you must be Mr. Uzumaki correct?"

"Believe it, I'm one of the greatest ninjas there is," Naruto said,

"Really, I heard you're much of a knuckle-head," Kyro said, Naruto veined popped on his head and Sakura giggled after that, he turned to her again after he heard her giggle,

"Cute," he said.

"Kyro is it?" Sasuke asked, he turned to him,

"Yes," Kyro answered

"I was hoping to see you, because I have some questions to ask you," Sasuke said,

"Ask away," Kyro said.

"How is it we never seen you before until yesterday?" Sasuke asked,

"That's because I'm from another village," Kyro answered,

"Which village?"

"The Cloud village at the Land of Lightening,"

"And you're an Anbu at what rank?"

"The highest rank as I'm one of the best there is,"

"You look rather young to be an Anbu,"

"That's because I have one of the best talents in my village… unlike your not so famous clan, so I've heard."

Sasuke just scowled at him as he's not sure whether he just criticized him or insulted him, along with his family name. After exchanging words, Kyro turned back to Sakura, as he noticed some of her body is quivering a bit.

"You look a little shaky Sakura-chan," Naruto said,

"I-I should be heading home now, my mom expected me home before dinner," Sakura said,

"How about..." Naruto's about to asked, until Kyro interfered,

"I walk you home, just to keep you safe from any danger," Kyro offered. Sakura made a small smile as she accepts his offer, then they both started leaving the area, and leaving Naruto and Sasuke behind.

Naruto scowled at him as he's walking Sakura home, **_"I just met this guy, and I already don't like him,"_** he thought. Sasuke turned to the damaged tank and look up at the building where it fell off,

"Hn," he responds as doing a little investigation of this 'accident'.

**Prison...**

Seven Anbu Black Ops, standing guard of the entrance of the prisoner away from the village, but somewhere in the forest. Little did they expect, a black stray cat with _green_-thin eyes roaming through the forest and somehow, spotted a crack wall near the entrance.

"Meow," it meowed at it slid through and went into the crack wall, inside the prison, it appeared on the stairs, and started walking down where there's a bar-door, where the prisoner is place. And by prisoner I mean...

**Haruno residents…**

Kyro and Sakura appeared at her home,

"Thank you for walking me home, and I wanted to thank you for saving me," Sakura said as she bowed to him,

"It is my pleasure Ms. Haruno," he said as he bowed to her too. She turned to her home, as she's about to go inside,

"Sakura," she turned to Kyro when he called her,

"It may sound out of the blue, but... would you like to accompany me at the park tomorrow?" he asked. Sakura blushed again as he just asked her out on a date, she might expect something like this coming from Naruto, but never from an Anbu,

"Oh… w-well I'm flattered, though…" she was about answer, until suddenly… her body frost and her inner spirit suddenly felt an energy source absorbed something, it cause her body to frost up. Then…

_"Everything is going to be alright Sakura-chan,"_ Ibate said, as she blinked a few times as she snapped out of it again, "I-I'm sorry…" she said as she didn't catch that,

"I said it's all right if you don't want to go," Kyro said,

"…Actually, I would love to," Sakura said as she accepted his offer.

"It's a date then, pick you up at eight," he said then he left, Sakura went inside but stood for a moment,

**_"That was strange… suddenly I don't feel… nervous,"_** she thought before she went to her room.

**Prison…**

Akeeba still sitting in his cell… until, his body frost at the moment as he felt an energy source within his inner spirit as he obtained something… from another spirit, he smirked and chuckled evilly,

"One down… six more to go," he said.

"Meow!" Akeeba lifted his head, as he spotted a stray black cat; it somehow got inside the cell without one of the guards noticed it. Akeeba smiled while looking at the cat, he has an idea, he extended his hand, as the chain is cuffed around his wrist, his index finger stuck out, pointing at the cat. The cat turned to him,

"Here kitty-kitty-kitty," he said as signal 'come here' on his finger at the cat,

At that moment… the cat slid passed the bars as it walked towards him, and then…

"EOW!" the cat cried as there's a yellow light flashed in his cell.

**Back in the village…**

Sasuke appeared on the building, where the tank fell off, he saw some ropes hanging around, and, for some reason, leaves around the area where the tank was placed. Sasuke walked up the ropes first, and noticed that they were all cut, which cause the tank to fall over, then he turned to the leaves, as he kneeled down and picked up one of them. He observed it, "Hn…" he said as he finds it odd to find leaves in the middle of an accident, just as he started rubbing it with his thumb…

"Eh!" he responds as he suddenly got cut on his thumb by the tip of the leaf, even though it was a small cut, there is no way a leaf has a sharp tip at the end. So with another observation, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and saw… an unusual substance within the leaf, as if it was used by… chakra, making it sharp enough to cut anything. Which brought his thoughts on the ropes that where cut off, he looked at it's feature as he recognized it. Then he pulled out the leaf out of his pocket, back from the flowers Sakura received from her secret admirer, as he compare them; they're the exact same leaves, one from the flowers for Sakura, and one from the scene of the accident. Then Sasuke brought his thoughts back to the fourth Anbu, Kyro, when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and saved Sakura from the fallen tank before him. It comes to conclude that Kyro is, in fact, the prime suspect of the 'incident', then suddenly…

**_Snap!_**

Sasuke turned and saw a small figure hiding behind the pillar, until the figure quickly left, Sasuke quickly left the area to follow the figure. They ran and jumped through building to building, the small figure kept running away from Sasuke, though Sasuke kept on it's tail. Plus, he recognized the area, so he decided to take a short-cut, the small figure kept running, though noticed Sasuke is no longer there. So the small figure jumped off the build, back on the ground; just before being home free, Sasuke appeared from behind and grabbed it's wrist. Then he took a look at the little spy, and saw it was a very young girl, she has short black hair, lavender eyes, and wearing a purple top with black shorts.

"Let me go!" she said trying to pull her wrist away from Sasuke grasp,

"I will if you tell me why you were spying on me back there," Sasuke said,

"I wasn't spying, I was investigating the scene where one of Akeeba's minions causes that almost harmed your friend," she said, still trying to free herself from his grip.

"How do you know that? Do you know who cause the tank to fall?"

"I'm not suppose to tell," she said, then Sasuke grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up, as her feet are no longer touching the ground,

"Well you better start talking, I have all day, who are you anyway?" Sasuke demand while glaring at her, the little girl scowled at him.

"Fine… my name is Sin Omagachou, I'm a junior investigator of demonic appearances within people's inner spirits," she said,

"… Right, and I'm the junior chief officer of the Anbu Black Ops," he said sarcastically, thinking she's lying.

"No I'm serious, there's a demon-child lurking in your village and your teammate is in grave danger," Sin said,

"What do you mean? She's not in any danger," he said is disbelief,

"You don't understand, she met the head-demon in disguise, he already marked her as becoming one of his minions," she explained.

"Now you don't understand, the Fifth Hokage checked on her yesterday and stated no problem on her whatsoever," Sasuke said,

"Really, then how about earlier today, have you noticed anything unusual about her, her behavior or appearance perhaps?" she asked.

Sasuke didn't answer as he does recall something different about her; her hair grew longer this morning, she ate more ramens than Naruto back at the Ichiraku's, and she called him and Naruto by their last name before she left. He slowly placed Sin back on the ground, and let go of her collar,

"From the look on your face, you have notice something different about your teammate earlier, if you must know, she becoming one of them as she's beginning the process of her Inner spirit,"

"I heard enough of this," he said as he started walking away, but then Sin said,

"Well just a bit of a heads-up, I suggest you keep an eye on her, and don't let her be around the Deceiver too much," Sasuke stopped and turned to her.

"Who?" he asked,

"The Deceiver, he's one of Akeeba's best minions, you also need to watch out for him, he's a tough one to miss. He deceives anyone with his tricks, he fakes everything towards his enemy; his trace, identity, even his own death," Sin explained, Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Do not be fooled by his tricks, he's somewhere in the village where you at least expected," she said, then she got out her umbrella, she gather up her chakra as she opened her umbrella, as the wind blew, she started to float in the air, she look down at Sasuke,

"In case if you noticed anything out of the ordinary or requiring my assistant, come to the small cottage near the waterfalls over the mountains; you might need it," Sin yelled as she floats up in the air and drifted away from the area. Sasuke watched her leave, as he's alone in the alley, until...

"Uchiha," he heard a voice as he turned and saw…

"Shino...how long were you standing there?" Sasuke asked,

"Not long, though I have to say, you sure have a way with kids," he said sarcastically,

"So you heard everything,"

"Not that I'm here to ease-drop on your conversation, but there is something I like to ask about your teammate," Sasuke became silent when he mention his comrade,

"Has she, by any chance, changed a little?" he asked,

"She's fine, why are you interested about my comrade anyway? Is there something I should know about?" Saske asked. Shino didn't reply, but his shoulder is sore from the stitches he got yesterday after fighting with...

**Flashback…**

**_"Why is it that you want Sakura to become like you thugs?" he was able to ask, Fuzca stood in front of him,_**

**_"Well... since you're going to be eaten, I don't see no problem of telling you. We're taking Ms. Haruno to meet Lord Akeeba so he can take away her emotions," he said,_**

**_"Her emotions?" _****_Shino thought as Fuzca continues._**

**_"So without her emotions, she'll slowly develop a whole new ability within herself and changes will come to her; and within one week, she'll become one of us to set along with Lord Akeeba's plan to revolt for a whole new future." Shino led his eyes through his shed glasses at Fuzca's paled gray eyes,_**

**_"That explain those eyes," _****_he thought…_**

**Flashback over…**

"You know something, do you?" Sasuke asked, as he demand to know what he's thinking, then Shino said,

"… It would be best if you take that little girls advice, she might come in handy in case your comrade is not fully herself by the end of this week," Shino said as started walking away.

**_"The end of this week, what is he talking about?"_** he thought, before he decided to leave the alley and went straight home.

**Nighttime…**

Kyro, a.k.a. Ibate in disguise, sitting on the edge of the roof, watching over his pink-haired mate, as she once again slumbers, with his paled-blue eyes; then he thought about what Akeeba told him…

**Flashback…**

**_Within the Mountains, few days before…_**

**_Akeeba and Ibate are outside, behind the mountains, looking down at the people as they're working on a machine,_**

**_"The preparation is almost ready my Lord," Ibate said,_**

**_"Excellent, after all the years of preparing for this day, I can revolt this world, so that we can take full control of it and bring out a whole new future," Akeeba said as he felt the excitement of the plan being set in place._**

**_"I can see it now, the whole world in my hands, you, along with Dujobe, Kilala, the Zukato brothers, and Uki, revolt with me, and…" Akeeba's eyes became brighter, as he's going a genjutsu. Then… Ibate felt a hand holding his, he turned and saw… the pink-haired maiden, with her sweet smile for him and her emerald eyes looking over his paled-blue eyes. _**

**_"You being with your mate for the rest of your life," Akeeba said looking at his apprentice, looking at his mate, though he still show no expression but respond now holding her hand. Too bad that moment didn't last, as Akeeba let go of the genjutsu, which, unfortunately, made the pink-haired maiden vanished._**

**_"As long as you do as I say Ibate, I'll see to it that you'll be together with your beloved mate," Akeeba said, Ibate turned to him with his emotionless face, "Whatever you say… my Lord," he said._**

**Flashback over…**

After that talk with Akeeba, Ibate must obey his orders, and continue with the plan; not just for his Lord, but for the future for him and his mate.

**Bedroom…**

Sakura is in her bed sleeping, though, she sort of having trouble sleeping as something is around her mind…

**Dream/Mind…**

**_Sakura opened her eyes, as she found herself alone in the dark realm, not in her room, house, or anywhere in sight,_**

**_"Where am I?" she said,_**

**_"In your Inner thoughts," she heard a voice, as she turned to… a big mirror. She doesn't know why it's there, but she started walking up to it, but by the time she stood in front of it, she doesn't see her own reflection._**

**_"That can't be right," she said,_**

**_"It doesn't have to be," she heard that voice from earlier,_**

**_"Who'se there?" she said as she looked around but doesn't see a soul around._**

**_"You're looking the wrong way," she heard it as it's very close by, but when she turned to the mirror again…_**

**_She gasped, as she saw her reflection of… a girl in the mirror, her height is the same as hers, and the same age, except she has long red hair, paled-red eyes, pale skin, and her expression is blank just like; Uki, Myazo and Fuzca, Kilala, Dujobe, and Ibate._**

**_"W-who are you?" Sakura said, but the girl didn't answer as she stared at her with her paled-red eyes,_**

**_"… Are you suppose to be me?" she asked,_**

**_"… Not for long," the girl finally spoke, Sakura's eyes are widen,_**

**_"Soon… you will be me," the girl said._**

**Reality…**

Sakura immediately opened her eyes and sat up after what just happened, she can't tell whether it's just a dream or for real. She slowly lay back down resting,

**_"Could she really be me?"_** she thought, as she thought about that paled red-haired girl with paled-red eyes.

**Prison...**

The Anbu's are still guarding,

"Have you noticed he didn't made a peep all day?" one of the asked,

"Like we care, as long as this bastard stays put, no problem whatsoever," the other said,

"Meow," the two heard a black cat, as it just got out of the creak wall,

"Hey!" the other Anbu yelled at the cat, "Get out of here! Shoe! Get!" he yelled at it, then the cat ran away from him, "Dumb cat," he said as he went back to his post.

The cat ran away from the prison, as it went through the forest, then it stopped when it stopped the Leave village,

"Meow," it meowed while looking staring at the village with it's... _yellow_-thin eyes?!

**To be continued...**

**Sorry for the wait, I was about to update my first or fourth story, but I got drawn to this story and the fact I had a birthday few days ago (I'm not telling you my age to those who may ask.) So I hope you like this story, and please-please review. Arigato!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Like I said, I'm drawn to this story… No reviews, I'm sad to see some of you find the last update uninteresting. I apologize for that, maybe, perhaps, you might like this update instead. Enjoy!**

**After the mission was accomplished, things got a little awkward the next day; the fact that Sakura's hair started to grow rapidly, she ate a lot of ramens without being full, and she accidentally called her comrades by their last names. Besides that, she, along with Naruto and Sasuke, met Kyro Mushori, a young Anbu who helped out from the mission. Then it got a little interesting when Kyro asked Sakura out, though Sasuke is now suspicious of Kyro; unaware of him being 'Ibate' in disguise. Of course he met a young girl name Sin, who's investigating and aware of a demon child in the village, and…**

**Morning, at home, Day 2…**

Sakura already woke up as she ate breakfast with her mom, took a shower, and now getting dress… for her date. The problem is that she's having trouble trying to clip her bra, for some reason, it's too small for her,

"That can't be right," she said.

She walked over and looked at herself in the mirror, she turned her body to the side, and discovered… her breast expanded, as they're bigger than her original **(Not 'too big' if you know what I mean)**, not only that's strange, but her hair grew longer like it did yesterday and this time it stops behind her shoulders and her back. She also looks curvier,

"This is so weird," she said, then she started to put her pants and red outfit, but they couldn't fit her due to her enlarge breast, and she think her butt gotten big. So instead…

"Mom," she called her mother for help.

**Interrogation…**

The children are put under interrogation, all in separate rooms, being guarded and monitored. Anko is walking through the halls, checking on the children while the Anbu's are watching them, she stopped at the first Anbu, guarding the youngest child.

**Uki…**

"Any report?" she asked,

"Hardly, we tried reasoning with her, even gave her some toys she kept asking, but couldn't corporate," he said.

Anko slid open the window to look at little Uki, as Uki is sitting in the center of the room, ripping and tearing off the doll they gave her; and the fact, she's surrounded by broken, ripped, and torn out dolls, some are old and some are brand new.

Uki ripped off the dolls head, as she doesn't care that it's new, and tossed the body aside, then she slowly turned to the door, as she's being watched by Anko and the Anbu.

"I want my dolly," she said while hold the dolls head, facing the two adults, and shows no expression whatsoever,

"That's the 15th doll this morning," the Anbu said,

**_"That little girl looks… familiar for some reason,"_** Anko thought as she recognized her from somewhere.

"Hello there…What's your name?" Anko asked, Uki didn't reply, "Do you have a name?" she asked, Uki still didn't reply, "My name is Anko, and you are?" she said, trying to be nice to her. "…Uki," Uki finally answered as she placed the doll's head down, "Uki, that's a nice name, you must be wondering why you're here," she said.

"You place us under interrogation, due to trespassing of your territory, accuse of kidnapping and being a threat to your village. So you're questioning and examining us from the order of your Hokage, in some case, of deciding our punishment," Uki said, Anko's are a bit widen as she's a bit speechless, **_"O…kay, so she does know,"_** she thought.

"Where are your parents? Would you like to see your parents?" she asked, Uki became silent as turned away from her, then she answered,

"… I don't have any parents."

Anko didn't say anything after what she said, then she turned to the Anbu, "Where's her doll?" she asked, "I was order to remove it from her," he answered. "What is wrong with you? Taking a doll from a little girl, are you that cold?" Anko said as she's a bit mad, the Anbu slide the window closed, and gently pulled Anko away from the door,

"Ms. Anko, you don't understand, her 'dolly' isn't like the dolls we gave her or some toy to be played with," he explained. Anko became silent as she doesn't know what he's talking about, "I was informed that this girl can't have her doll, since she has some… kind of technique which involve with her doll. I know its very wrong taking a little girl's doll away from her, but there's a good reason for it, you just need to trust us,"

Anko didn't say anything for a moment… then she said, "Fine… but it's still wrong," she walked away from him, as she's on her way to the next room.

"I know," he said.

**Myazo…**

Anko walk over to the next rooms, being guarded by another Anbu, and for some reason, he's wearing a heavy coat,

**_"Why is he wearing a coat? It's still summer,"_** Anko thought as it's strange, until… she breathe out cold air, "What the…?" she said as she exhaled more cold air and stopped walking, then she noticed the temperature in the hallway decreased somewhere below 0 degrees.

"Why's everything so c-c-c-cold all of the sudden?" Anko said as she's now freezing, the Anbu walked up to her,

"Unfortunately, I have to stand guard over this kid that won't stop breathing out cold air," he said. Anko walked over the door, which is covered in ice, but she managed to forcefully slid open the window. When she opens it, cold air blew at her face, like a snowy blizzard somewhere in the Snow Mountains. Anko looked through the window and saw… Myazo, as he's sitting in the corner, surrounded by green ice, and icicles above him. He just there, inhaling and exhaling cold air, since he's the cause of decreasing the room temperature, and frozen everything around him.

"H-h-h-he's just s-s-s-s-sitting there," Anko said as she's shivering,

"All day, even as we bring him food, they turned ice cold before they reached the door; at least that's what the others said," the Anbu said. She turned to him,

"O-o-o-others? You mean there are other Anbu's guarding him?" she asked,

"There… were, until they all got reassigned, I'm the fifth guard for today,"

"W-w-what happened to the other four?"

"The first guard got a head-cold, the second was sent home with a flu, and the third came down with a very high fever,"

"What leaves the fourth?"

"He was here the longest, until his body became frozen, so the medical-nins took him to the hospital few hours ago to defrost him."

Anko turned back to Myazo,

**_"What's with this kid?"_** she thought before she closed the window,

"D-d-do you at le-e-east, get any infor-r-rmation from him?" she asked, still freezing.

"No, he won't tell us anything, and I doubt his twin will say anything also," he said,

"He has a t-t-twin?" she asked,

"Just in the next room up ahead,"

"I-I-I-I see," she said, then she continue her way through the hall.

**Fuzca…**

"They could've at least warned me to bring a jacket," Anko said as she's finally out of that cold area, and back to the normal temperature as she continue her way to the next room. She spotted two Anbu's arguing, one of them holding a tray of food, while the other is guarding the room,

"I'm not going in, you go in," the Anbu said,

"You're the one bringing him food, you go in," the other Anbu said,

"Have you seen the bite marks I got bitten, I'm not going in,"

"Do you know how many shots I've took the last time I went in there, I'm not doing it again."

"What's going on?" Anko interrupted their argument,

"It's breakfast, and this moron won't bring it to him, because of a bug problem," the Anbu said,

"Hey, I know a difference between a bug, but those creatures that boy is messing with aren't bugs, they're…" the other Anbu said, until Anko interrupted him.

"I can't believe you two are arguing about bugs in that room," she said as she took the tray from him,

"Ms. Anko, you don't understand," he tried to warn her,

"All you need to do is give him his meal, how simple is that," she said.

When she open the door… her eyes became widen with shock… up and down, left and right, here and there, the room is filled with… 8-legged, 4-eyed, creepy, crawly arachnids. Not only that, the room is also filled with webs, hanging on ceilings, and draped on walls and corners. Their leader, Fuzca, is sitting in corner, like his twin from the other room, not being bother by his spiders crawling all over his body.

Anko immediately shut the door and handed the tray back to one of the Anbus, "I'm not going in," she said as she immediately walked away from the room, continue through the hallway.

**Kilala…**

After Anko escaped the other room, she started hearing… music, being played by a piano, as she reached the room, she can hear the music coming from inside. She asked the guard "Is it safe to go in?"

"Actually it is, this one hardly complain or show any problems," he answered,

"Then why is there a piano in there?" she asked,

"She ask for it when we try to negotiate with her, she told us some information but not enough," he said,

"I see," Anko said before she opened the door. She saw Kilala, playing the piano far away from the door, and the middle of the room. She can hear her play a smooth and calm music, hitting every key, note to note, like a professional musician in a concert or at the opera. Anko steps in… Kilala stopped playing…

"Hello Ms. Mitarashi," she said,

"You know who I am?" Anko asked,

"I know you were coming…" Kilala turned her head, along with half of her upper body towards her, "And know why you're here," she said. Anko noticed her eyes,

"You're blind,"

"I get that a lot, of course it took awhile for some people to notice it,"

"…Right, well, I have some question to ask you ab-"

"About our actions against some of young shinobis and the abduction of Ms. Haruno," Kilala said,

"Y-yes, it's just that-"

"I am not obligated to answer any of your questions that involve the kidnapping, the fighting, nor the association of who we're working for," Kilala said as she turned away from her and started playing the piano again. They were both silent at the moment, though Anko listen to her music, until she asked,

"Do you have a family?"

Kilala hit the wrong key, which ruins the music, when she heard that question… then she answered,

"No," then she start playing the piano from the top.

"Good day Ms. Mitarashi… and bless you," she said,

"Bless y- Achoo!" Anko sneezed, and turned to Kilala, **_"How does she…?" _**she thought for a moment, before she left the room, and continue down the hallway.

**Dujobe…**

Anko made it to the last room, as it's being guard by three Anbu's,

"Any reports?" she asked,

"There's not much negotiating with this kid, every time we try to talk to him, he pulls a fit and won't corporate," one of them answered.

Anko slid the window open, and saw... Dujobe all chained up; wrists, ankles, neck, upper and lower body, and a muzzle covering half his face. She looked at him as he's breathing through the muzzle, and looked as if he's a killer, or murderer with no self-control.

"Why's he wearing a muzzle?" she asked, as she finds odd to find a kid wearing a muzzle, like dogs or wild beasts,

"To prevent him from biting other people, and he's the last child we captured from the mission," the other answered and explained, then Anko thought to herself after she closed the window,

**_"This can't be right, I was informed that there were 4 boys and 2 girls involve with the kidnapping, and yet… there are 2 girls and 3 boys here. What ever happened to the 4th boy?"_**

**8:00 a.m. Haruno resident…**

Kyro appeared at the front door, not wearing his uniform but regular clothes, and holding a red rose, he knocked on the door. A moment later, Mrs. Haruno opened the door, "Oh, hello there, you must be Kyro," she greets him, he bowed to her,

"Morning Mrs. Haruno, is Sakura ready?" he asked.

"She'll be down soon, why don't you come in," she invited him inside, he enters the house, "You have a lovely house, but it certainly got lovelier with you in it," he said as handed her the red rose, Mrs. Haruno blushed and giggled for his compliment before she took the rose,

"Why thank you, you're so sweet. Would you like some tea while you wait?" she asked before she smelled the rose,

"No, but thank you for your offer," Kyro said.

Sakura is in her room, looking at herself at the mirror, as she's wearing some of her mother's old clothes; a black bandanna, dark-gray shorts, a maroon shirt/dress with black lines around the collar, cuffs, and ends, and sandals.

**_"I don't know what to believe; the fact that my body suddenly changed that I can't fit into my own clothes anymore, or wearing some of my mom's old clothes that is way out of style,"_** she thought,

**_"How about all the above, of course it depends on Kyro," _****Inner Sakura said,**

**_"Right,"_** she thought as she slowly walked away from her mirror, heading down stairs.

"You're an Anbu?" Mrs. Haruno said in surprise,

"One of the best," Kryo said,

"But you look so young," she said,

"I get that a lot, though some people believe I look more like an adult," he said.

Sakura came downstairs, and saw Kyro, and her mother

"Morning Sakura-chan," he greet her,

"Morning Kyro," she greet him,

"You look lovely," he said,

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

"He's cute," her mother whispered to her,

"Mom," she said as she's embarrassing her,

"Well don't be out too long… this time," she said, as she recalled the last time,

"You don't need to worry Mrs. Haruno, I'm sure your daughter is well protected while accompanying to the park," Kryo said to her. She smile in relief, "Surely, as long as she's with an Anbu, I have nothing to worry," she said, before she watched them leave.

_**"Such a nice boy,"**_ she thought as she smelled the rose, before she head to the kitchen.

**Village, park…**

Sakura and Kyro are walking together at the park,

"Kyro, could I asked you something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Don't get me wrong or anything, it's just that… why do you want to go out with me? I mean, you are an Anbu, and I'm a Genin, is there a rule about that?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Well generally, there's no jurisdiction of certain shinobis in higher ranks not socializing with other shinobi's in lower ranks, despite our ages that is; and personally, the Anbu girls I know aren't so interesting and they're way older than me, plus I find you a very interesting person I wouldn't mind getting to know," he answered. Sakura blushed once again after what he said, "I see," she said… until,

"Ah!" she cried, as she felt something sharp on her right foot,

"What's wrong?" he asked,

"I think I stepped on something," she said as she can feel the pain,

"Let me take a look at it," he said, as he helped her to the bench, she sat down,

"Where does it hurt?" he asked as he kneeled down, checking on her foot,

"The toe," she answered, he held her foot as he took off her sandal as he was able to spot the splinter on her toe.

Ino and Hinata are at the park, gathering some herbs,

"Thanks again for helping Hinata,"

"I-It's no trouble," Hinata stopped as she spotted Sakura with another guy, "I-Ino, isn't that Sakura over there?"

"Forehead?" Ino said as she turned and saw her with a guy, and for some reason he's holding her foot.

"OMG! Forehead snag herself a guy," Ino said

"But… I never seen him before,"

"Neither have I but who cares, they're on a date; we should spread the word," Ino said

"I-I don't know Ino, they might not be dating,"

"Then what do you call it when a guy massaging her feet at a lovely day alone in the park?"

"I… um…" Hinata couldn't respond to her answer.

"Exactly, so let's tell the others," Ino said as she drag Hinata away from the park to start spreading the word; pretty much a gossip that would spread to people-to-people and so on.

"That's one tough splinter," Kyro observed,

"You mean you can't get it out?" Sakura panicked,

"Not quite, I can always do the old fashion way of getting it out," Kyro said, then…

Sakura flinched a little when she felt Kyro's mouth, as he's trying to get the splinter with his teeth.

He finally got the splinter out, and spat it out, he looked at her toe and noticed… no scratch mark or any blood on it,

"Is something wrong? Is it bad? Please tell me it isn't bad," she panicked,

"It's nothing serious, you're going to be just fine," he answered as he looked up to her, Sakura blushed again and smiled at him, as she said,

"Oh my, Kyro… I never notice you have beautiful eyes," she saw as she's drawn to his sapphire eyes, as they sparkle like stars in the night sky.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about your eyes," Kyro said, there was silent between them, until…

**_Lup-Dup!_**

Her heart beat, her eyes turned paled, her green-emerald changed into red-ruby, and her expression became blank once again. Kyro saw the changes in her eyes, as he changes his sapphire eyes to paled-blue, they glanced at each other. Sakura slowly placed her hand on his cheek,

**_"Just as I imagine,"_** Ibate thought as he placed his hand over her's, feeling her soft touch.

_"Ibate Kurasaki,"_ he introduced himself, communication by thoughts, as he slowly stood back up, as his mate got off the bench,

_"Akalra Auraka,"_ she introduced herself.

_"How long were you imprison?"_

_"More than 12 years,"_

_"What's your ability?"_

_"…Allow me to show you,"_ she slowly led his head towards her's as their forehead pressed against each others, unaware of what she's doing until…

"Kgh!" he respond, as his eyes was widen for the first time, as he felt the intensed energy flowing through his mind, affecting his nervous system and control of his body; like his spirit is, literally, about to break apart, by her energy.

_"There's more to me than just that technique, I won't reveal them to you just yet, unless you're worthy for me,"_ Akalra explained as she released him, Ibate fell on one knee, panting after her demonstration; he felt nothing like this, besides his sensei's, her's is over the chart, unlike anything he ever encountered. He slowly looked up to her, as she stared down at him with a blank expression,

**_"Such a remarkable female,"_** Ibate thought.

**Home…**

Ms. Haruno is putting up the dishes, gathering up plates and cups from the table, then she accidentally knocked over her vase, where she placed the red rose Kyro gave her before he and her daughter left.

"Oh dear…" she said before she pick up the rose and her vase, "Now I have to clean this up," she said. Then she looked at the rose, as it's completely unharmed, "I'm still surprised a young man like Kyro becomes an Anbu... I guess I'll never know," she said before she smelled the rose one last time. Then suddenly…

**_Spray!_**

"Aahh!" she screamed after a small fume of blue pollens sprayed from inside the rose inside her nose, which cause her to drop it…

**_Break!_**

And her vase on the floor, she covered her mouth and nose as she started coughing and sneezing, she fell and crouched down as some on the pollens went up through her nasal cavity inside her nervous system. It lasted less than a minute… until she stopped coughing and sneezing as she's panting… and then fell silent, she slowly rose up, but said no words.

**Back at the park…**

Naruto is at the park, as he got back from the Ichiraku's, "I guess I can go visit Sakura, perhaps this time I'll asked out out, and with a new resturant there's a chance she'll finally say 'Yes'," he said as he's overjoyed.

While he was walking through the park, something caught his eye, as he spotted… Sakura with Kyro… alone in the park, staring at each other's eyes... and Kyro is down in one knee, holding Sakura's hands, as if he's proposing to her.

"What the heck!" he said as he can't believe what he's seeing.

_"You know it's the time of the season of choosing a mate, have you chosen a mate?"_ he asked while holding her hands,

_"Indeed, I have not," _she answered,

_"Then…would you consider of becoming my mate?"_ Ibate proposed,

_"I…"_ she was about to answer, until…

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" he yelled which interrupted them, and revert the color of their eyes to the original stage; Sakura is herself again, and Ibate returned to his disguise as Kyro.

"What is this, you wouldn't think I find out about this rondevu," Naruto said as he's a little upset, Sakura found her hands holding Kyro's, the way couples hold each other's hands, she let go of his hands, and Kyro stood back up.

"How could you do this to me Sakura-chan? I mean really, after all the times I asked you out," he said as if she's cheating on him; even though they never did gone out,

"Honestly, I don't know what came over me," she answered.

"Then what's going on? What just happened?" he demand,

"Well, Kyro asked me to accompany him to the park yesterday, then..."

While Sakura's explain, Naruto suddenly noticed her appearance, besides her mother's clothes, her hair became long **(Like the first season)**, her body is all curvy, and her chest is-! **_(Whoa!) _**Naruto quickly turned away, as his face suddenly turned hot red, **_"What the hell?"_** he thought. Even though he has a crush on her, he never thought she be that attractive; for some reason, he's nervous like hell and thinks his nose is starting to bleed. He quickly wiped it,

"I accidentally stepped on a splinter, but Kyro got it out, and then... Naruto are you okay?" Sakura asked as she noticed he stopped paying attention to her,

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he respond,

**_"Don't panic! Don't panic! Gonna think fast, think fast, thi-"_** he thought until he spotted his pervert sensei.

"Pervy-sage, hi, how you doing? Good seeing you, nice day we're having, how you been?" Naruto said as he quickly ran up to Jiraya,

"Eh… hello to you too, Naruto," he said,

"Is your friend all right?" Kyro asked,

"Yeah, he's just being himself," Sakura answered.

Jiraya turned and spotted a young, attractive girl with a young man, he pull out that pervy look on his face.

_"Why hello…" _he said,

"Pervy-sage, I got a problem," Naruto whispered to him,

"Tell me later, there's a lovely fine young lady over there and I'm about to 'woo' her and probably ask her out for dinn-" he said until...

**_Punch!_**

Naruto punched him in the face, "You pervert! You better not be thinking about hitting on Sakura-chan!" he yelled at him,

"What? Sakura," he said while rubbing his face, where Naruto punched him, then he looked over at her again, and took a moment to finally realize it is her,

"Whoa! That is her. Man, I didn't recognize her, on a count of…" Jiraya took a good look at Sakura… checking-out her 'hour-glassed' body, top from bottom, "Having a very nice bod-"

**_Punch!_**

Naruto punched him again, "Quit staring at her like that!" he yelled.

"Sorry… so what is this problem you're dealing with?" Jiraya said, while rubbing his face again,

"It's Sakura-chan,"

"What about her, besides being… what about her?"

"She's different,"

"I already notice that,"

"I mean she's a lot different than she was yesterday, her hair is long again, she ate more ramens than me, and now…" Naruto is unable to finished his sentence as turned his head half way, looking at Sakura again, though she's talking to Kyro, he blushed again as he turned away, **_"She's out of my league," _**he thought.

"I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but I can tell you find her very attractive," Jiraya said, Naruto didn't say anything as his face turned red, "There's nothing wrong with that, it's completely natural and healthy for you to like a girl," he looked at Sakura once more, _"If only she's 20 years older," _he whispered,

"What's that?" Naruto asked as he didn't catch that,

"Nothing," he lied.

"You're leaving already," Sakura said as she's a bit surprised,

"Something came up, I'm afraid I have to go," Kyro said as he's a bit disappointed,

"So… who's that young man she's with?" Jiraya asked as he noticed Sakura talking to another guy,

"Oh just some Anbu name, Kyro Mushori," Naruto answered.

"Kyro Mushori uh… I never seen him before yet that name sounds familiar," Jiraya said,

"Forget about Kyro for a moment, I still have a problem about Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he's still worried.

"Naruto," Sakura said as she appeared,

"We weren't talking about yo-! I mean, yeah," Naruto said, as he try to stay calm and cool,

"Kyro left for a meeting, mind if you walk me home?" she asked,

"Y-yeah, sure," he said nervously,

"Mind if I tag along?" Jiraya asked with that pervy-look on his face,

**_Punch!_**

Naruto punched him once more,

"Stay out of this you pervert!" he yelled at him, then he and Sakura quickly left the park.

**Forest…**

Ibate stood, in front of the five Anbu Black Ops, who are still under his control, as they kneel and bowed to him.

"Report," he said to one of them,

"Your comrades are placed under interrogation, guarded and monitored by those Leaf Anbus," one of them said,

"Are they trying to gather information from them?"

"Yes, but rarely any whatsoever,"

"See to it they know nothing by the end of this week," he ordered them.

"Hai," they all said then disappeared,

"Meow!" Ibate heard something, as he turned to a stray black cat, as it appeared from behind the tree,

"Meow!" it meowed, as it approached Ibate, Ibate looked at him as he noticed it's bright yellowed-eyes; and the fact he notice it didn't hissed nor ran away from him, like an 'actual' cat and other animal species would.

They both stared at each other as the leaves fall, and the wind blew by,

"Meoow," the cat meowed once more, as it's bright yellow-eyes started glowing...

**Home, outside…**

Naruto and Sakura appeared at her place,

"Thanks for walking me home, and sorry about what happen," she thanked and apologized to him,

"It's okay, I overreacted," he said, still managing not to freak out about her appearance, so he changed the subject and he said,

"However… I've been meaning to ask you the other day, have you heard of the new restaurant near the lake?"

"Groji restaurant," she said,

"Yeah that's right, I-I've been meaning to ask if you would… you know, go there, with me?" he asked her.

"Oh my goodness," she said as something caught her eye,

"I know it's expensive, but I like to make it special, so…" he said until...

"Chocolate," she said with a smile,

"Wha-?" he said, after what she just said,

"Someone left me some chocolate,"

"By who?" he asked.

"My secret admirer, telling me how sweet I am," she answered,

"Oh…" Naruto almost forgot about this 'secret admirer' from before; first the flowers, then a stuff animal, now sweets. That's so cliché.

"I'm sorry Naruto, what about the restaurant?" she asked,

"Right, I'm planning on having a reservation for you an…" he said until...

"Sakura!" they turned and saw Mrs. Haruno at the door,

"Mom," Sakura said,

"Come inside," her mother said before she closed the door,

"Sorry Naruto, I have to go, I'll see you later," she said then went inside,

"Damn," he said as he almost had her, **_"Okay, whoever this secret admirer is, he better knock it off,"_** he thought before he heads home.

**Home, inside…**

Sakura took off the sandals, "Hey mom, I found some chocolate on the steps, it's from my secret admirer who sent me the flowers the other day, I think they're-" her mother interrupts her.

"What happened to Kyro?" he mother asked while she's sweeping in the living-room,

"He left early to go to this meeting, then Naruto came and he walked me ho-" her mother interrupted her,

"That Kyro is such a very nice boy, you should go out with him more often," she said, Sakura was silent for a moment. She just met Kyro, and yet she already considered him a nice person, normally she would lecture her about going out with boys, but for some reason she approved Kyro just like that.

"…Rrright… well, do you need help with the cleaning, or you want me to wash some dishes and maybe start dinner?"

"No-no, I'll take care of it, why don't you go to your room and rest, I'll have dinner ready in an hour,"

"…Sure," Sakura said before she left the kitchen.

After she left, Mrs. Haruno stopped sweeping as she stare blankly into space with… her paled-green eyes opened, and the expression on her face blank. Not to mention, the rose Kyro gave her, which she place it in a small vase right next to her, is no longer red, but became blue.

**To be continued…**

**I hope you liked this, and please-Please-PLEASE review! THANK YOU!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I've been thinking about this story, and how I'm sunk into this. Even though this is my third, I should've started this from the beginning.**

**xDarakuxShitaxTenshix****; Thanx.**

**yuchi1994****; Here you go.**

**SasuSaku15394****; I see you're excited, well I hope you enjoy this update.**

**Daydreamer4ever10****; Thank you.**

**Something's amiss, as Sakura's appearance suddenly changing; her hair is long again, and she becomes more slender. She went on her date with Kyro, but isn't fully herself, as there's another person inside her; and she goes by Akalra. Just when Ibate -as Kyro- proposed to Akalra -as Sakura- to be his mate, Naruto came in the picture leaving the proposal unanswered. Back at home, Mrs. Haruno somehow got sprayed by the rose Kyro gave her, and she's completely not herself. Lately, Sakura's secret admirer gave her sweets, which brought her attention again when…**

**Training ground…**

Sasuke's practicing his shuriken and jutsu by himself, though his mind is somewhere else, as he kept thinking about yesterday.

**Flashback…**

**_Village, after the accident…_**

**_"How is it we never seen you before until yesterday?" Sasuke asked,_**

**_"That's because I'm from another village," Kyro answered,_**

**_"Which village?"_**

**_"The Cloud village at the Land of Lightening,"_**

**_"And you're an Anbu at what rank?"_**

**_"The highest rank as I'm one of the best there is,"_**

**_"You look rather young to be an Anbu,"_**

**_"That's because I have one of the best talents in my village… unlike your, not so famous clan, so I've heard."_**

**_Sasuke just scowled at him as he's not sure whether he just criticized him or insulted him, along with his family name._**

**_Alley…_**

**_"…my name is Sin Omagachou, I'm a junior investigator of demonic appearances within people's inner spirits," she said,_**

**_"… Right, and I'm the junior chief officer of the Anbu Black Ops," he said sarcastically, thinking she's lying._**

**_"No I'm serious, there's a demon-child lurking in your village and your teammate is in grave danger," Sin said,_**

**_"What do you mean? She's not in any danger," he said is disbelief,_**

**_"You don't understand, she met the head-demon in disguise, he already marked her as becoming one of his minions," she explained._**

**_"Now you don't understand, the Fifth Hokage checked on her yesterday and stated no problem on her whatsoever," Sasuke said,_**

**_"Really, then how about earlier today, have you noticed anything unusual about her, her behavior or appearance perhaps?" she asked._**

**_Sasuke didn't answer as he does recall something different about her; her hair grew longer this morning, she ate more ramens than Naruto back at the Ichiraku's, and she called him and Naruto by their last name before she left. He slowly placed Sin back on the ground, and let go of her collar,_**

**_"From the look on your face, you have notice something different about your teammate earlier, if you must know, she becoming one of them as she's beginning the process of her Inner spirit,"_**

**_"I heard enough of this," he said as he started walking away, but then Sin said,_**

**_"Well just a bit of a heads-up, I suggest you keep an eye on her, and don't let her be around the Deceiver too much," Sasuke stopped and turned to her._**

**_"Who?" he asked,_**

**_"The Deceiver, he's one of Akeeba's best minions, you also need to watch out for him, he's a tough one to miss. He deceives anyone with his tricks, he fakes everything towards his enemy; his trace, identity, even his own death," Sin explained, Sasuke didn't say anything._**

**_"Do not be fooled by his tricks, he's somewhere in the village where you at least expected," she said, then she got out her umbrella, she gather up her chakra as she opened her umbrella, as the wind blew, she started to float in the air, she look down at Sasuke,_**

**_"In case if you noticed anything out of the ordinary or requiring my assistant, come to the small cottage near the waterfalls over the mountains; you might need it," Sin yelled as she floats up in the air and drifted away from the area._**

**Flashbacks over…**

After meeting Kyro and Sin, he has a lot to think about; investigating the 'accident' as he already concluded Kyro the prime suspect, or taking Sin's advice about keeping an eye on Sakura. Then he heard…

"Yo!" he turned, and saw Kakashi as he just appeared,

"Sensei," he said,

"I thought I might find you here," Sasuke turned away,

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing serious, it's just that Team 10 invited us to celebrate Shikamaru's chunin promotion and for completing last week mission,"

"I'm not really that interested," he said as he continue with his practice,

"I know, but Naruto and Sakura are going to be there, it'll be nice for you to at least attend," Kakashi said, Sasuke became silent for a moment then rolled his eyes,

"… Fine, but you know I don't do celebration," he said,

"I know," Kakashi said as he watched his pupil continue with his training.

**Nighttime, somewhere in the forest…**

Ibate is sitting on a large branch, leaned back against the trunk, as he's on a very tall tree; high enough to see the forest, the village, and the sky. He gazed at the stars, but mostly the crescent moon, thinking about that moment he had with his mate…

**Flashback…**

**_"There's more to me than just that technique, I won't reveal them to you just yet, unless you're worthy for me,"_****_ Akalra explained…_**

**Flashback over…**

He never forget her voice, nor her beautiful red eyes, he slowly clenched his chest… where his heart is, **'except, he can't feel nor hear his own heart'**,

**_"I've never met anyone with such astonishing energy,"_** he thought, he chose her from the start, now he wants her more than ever. Of course, he still has to deal with Sasuke, so he won't interfere, and try not to divulge his identity to him.

**Home…**

Sakura slumbers, but having difficulties when…

_"What are you doing?"_ Sakura opened her eyes and sat up, as she saw… the red-haired, paled eyes and skinned girl standing in the middle of her bedroom.

"You again,"

_"Is this how you are, a kunoichi with rarely any talent whatsoever?"_ she said,

"Who the heck are you? Why are you here?"

_"Since you're unable to figure it out, I'll tell you. I'm part of you, a spiritual being hidden within you ever since you were conceived,"_

_"I've been imprison for years, and rarely have any control of my own; the only time you ever notice me is by thought, or as you prefer me as your 'Inner thought',"_

"I-I didn't know there's another person inside of me, I thought it was just my self-conscious,"

_"That's where you're mistaken; within four days… we're going to switch,"_

"Switch? What are you talking about? What's going to happen four days?"

_"You'll see,"_

Sakura gasped, as she woke up, she looked around her room and saw no one there, "Okay, I'm not sure whether I'm losing my mind or I should be completely worried?" she said to herself for a moment before she went back to sleep.

**Day 3**** at the bridge…**

Team 7 are waiting at the bridge for their kunoichi, until a half hour later,

"Morning," they all turned to Sakura, as she's wearing a complete different outfit than her originals. As she's wearing a red top with a small black sleeves, black skirt that stop above her knees, a black bandana and heeled shoes.

"SAKURA-CHAN IS THAT YOU!" Naruto being the first to notice her new look, which cause Sakura to blush a little,

"It's the outfit isn't it, well my mom picked this out yesterday, since I can't seem to fit into my regular clothes anymore, if you don't like it, I can run back home real quick and chang-" she said until Naruto stopped her,

"No-no-no, you look fine," he said and complimented her.

"Have you grown an inch? Cause you were a little shorter since I last saw you," Kakashi said,

"Nah, it's these shoes she also got me, though I have to say they are quite comfortable as my original," Sakura stated while looking at her shoes.

"Should we go already," Sasuke said ending their conversation,

"Right-right, we should be heading to the restaurant now, let's go," Kakashi said, as he and his student are now heading to the restaurant where everyone else are through the village.

**Village…**

Team 7 are on their way to the restaurant, some of the village men started to stare at them, but mostly at the young, attractive kunoichi. One of them appeared in their way,

"Excuse me, would you care for some sweets," the man present them a box of fresh sweets on a stick, Naruto try to have one,

"Sure than-" he said, until…

"Not for you!" he yanked away from him,

"For you my dear," he said to Sakura,

"Oh… no, thank you," she said.

"A lovely flower, for a lovely lady," another man approached and present her with a flower,

"Eh!" she responds,

"Are you by any chance seeing anyone, because I certainly would like to introduce you to my second son," another man appeared,

"Are you available Friday night?" another man approaches,

By them, Sakura is now surrounded by older men, and young men, while Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were pushed aside. "Hey what gives?" Naruto said as he watched some men flirting with Sakura, "There's something you don't see every day," Sasuke said. "Looks like it's time to split," Kakashi said as he disappeared…

Within a moment, as the men crowded Sakura…

**_PooF!_**

Sakura suddenly disappeared, leaving the men surprise and wondering where she disappeared to. Some started leaving to look for her and most of them just left, little did they know, is that Sakura and Kakashi are standing at the roof of the building until everything is clear.

"Thanks for saving me sensei," Sakura said as she's glad her sensei pulled her out of the crowd, "No need," Kakashi said, before he and Sakura disappeared again, and got back to Naruto and Sasuke to continue their way to the restaurant.

**Few minutes later, at the restaurant…**

They made it to the restaurant, as they spotted Team 8, 10, and Gai, along with their senseis, already at their tables, they were ushered by one of the waitress,

"Alright, there's enough seats for the kids in this side, and two extra seats for two adults on the other side," she said before she left them, they all looked confused and turned to each other, as Kakashi is the only adult,

**_"Did she just mistake me as an adult?"_** Sakura thought to herself. Then she, Naruto and Sasuke took their seats, Sasuke sitting at the edge next to Shino, Naruto sat at the middle between Choji and Kiba, and Sakura sat at the other side of table between Ino and Tenten.

"Oh my gosh forehead, I almost didn't recognized you in that outfit," Ino said,

"You and I both, my mom bought these for me… though she's been acting kind of strange lately," Sakura explained,

"You mean awkward-strange, or stress-strange?" Ino said,

"I mean strange-strange, we rarely speak to each other, she doesn't need my help around the house, she hardly even looked at me lately,"

"Are you sure she's not stress-strange? I mean, how can you describe her behavior specifically?"

"Well…" Sakura start explaining what happed this morning back home.

**Flashback…**

**_Few hours ago, at home…_**

**_"Morning mom, sorry I overslept, I haven't got much sleep muc-"_**

**_"I bought you some new clothes," her mother handed her a bag,_**

**_"Uh… thanks, how did you…?" Sakura took the bag and was about to ask her something, until she cut her off,_**

**_"You should wear it today, in case you're going out with Kyro again," Sakura became silent for a moment._**

**_"Maybe later, how about I help you make breakfast-" she said, until her mother cut her off again,_**

**_"Already taken care of, but be a dear and try on the outfit I bought you," Sakura looked at her mother for a moment, sense a strange atmosphere around them,_**

**_"… Okay," Sakura said, before she head back upstairs to try on her outfit._**

**_Few minutes later…_**

**_"Hey mom, exactly where did you find this outfit?" Sakura asked as she came downstairs while wearing the outfit, but when she walked towards the kitchen, her mother is nowhere to be found. Then she spotted a note on the table, she picked it up, and read,_**

**_'I'll be home late.'_**

**_-Mom_**

**_Sakura stared at the note, as she wondered why her mother left all of the sudden without telling her where she's going…_**

**Flashback over…**

"She left before I did, and I don't know where she is, it's not like her to just leave without telling me," Sakura said as she starting to worry,

"Maybe she's running some errands, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Ino stated.

**Meanwhile, in forest near the village…**

Mrs. Haruno walking through the forest, while carrying a basket, she stopped in front of the figure standing under the shadows on a tree, he walked out the shadows, as it was none other than… Ibate. As he was waiting for her arrival,

"Right on time…"

"Hai," she said,

"And to think that if I never ingested some of my serums in the rose I gave you, I might have difficulties spreading some seeds around this village alone,"

"I'll do my bidding on behave of Lord Akeeba," she said.

"Well said," Ibate said before he handed her a bag of seeds,

"Be sure to plant each seed around the perimeter through each area; if possible, plant some in your house, and, if necessary, send some to a friend," he ordered her,

"Hai," she said,

"Good, and be sure not to make any suspicion, especially to any shinobis," he clarified,

"Hai," she said before she left. Ibate watched his beloved mate's mother leave the area…

"Meow!" he looked up to the tree where that black stray cat is sitting on a branch, looking down at him with it's yellow eyes, while shifting it's tail around. Ibate didn't say anything but stare at the black cat before it moved and leaped through the trees away from the area.

**Meanwhile, back at the restaurant…**

Everyone's having a good time, mingling and enjoying their food,

"Sorry Neji couldn't make it," Ino said,

"Yeah, he's still dealing with that awful flu, but his uncle inform us that he'll be better soon," Tenten said then turned to Sakura,

"So Sakura is it true?" she asked,

"What's true?" Sakura look confused,

"Rumor has it that you're going out with some new guy," Tenten said.

"New gu-" Sakura said until Lee interrupted her,

"A guy? What guy?" he said with a shock, and asked,

"Who is he? What's his name? Does he live around here? Is it someone I know…?" Lee gasped, "Is it that harvest guy that carried that 50 pound fish with an anchor tattoo over his left shoulder?" he asked. Sakura is now really confuse and said,

"Whoa-whoa…" she turned to Tenten, "Who told you I was with some guy?" she asked,

"I heard it from my neighbor, who heard it from her pet sitter, who heard it from one of her girlfriends, who heard it from Ino," she answered.

"Ino!" Sakura glare at Ino, "Why you spread rumors about me with some guy," she yelled,

"Why you yelling at me, Hinata was with me the whole time," Ino said,

"But we both know she could never gossip, you know how she is…" she looked at Hinata, "No offense Hinata," she said, "None taken," Hinata said.

"Well, you were with some new guy we never seen before, who was he anyway?"

"I still don't know what guy you're taking abou-" she got interrupted when...

**_Splat!_**

"AaaHh!" the girls shrieked as they got splatter by sauce by, none other than… Naruto, when he tried to put some sauce on his steak. But it didn't come out, so he tried to force it out, shaking and jabbing it out of the bottle until some it finally come out, but it missed the steak and got to the girls instead: most of them on Sakura though.

"Naruto!" Sakura gave him a deathly glare, and Naruto now scared of her as he sees dark aura around her; he is so dead.

"Sakura-chan wait! It was an accident, I-" he said until Sakura already grabbed his collar,

"BAKA!" she yelled and balled up her fist, clenched Naruto's collar and about to let him have it, until…

_**Lup-Dup!**_

Her heart beat once more as her expression suddenly turned blank, and her fist stopped close to an inch of Naruto's face. It didn't took long for Sasuke to notice her face becoming blank, and Shino see through his shades, as he noticed the change of her eyes became pale all of the sudden. Within less than a moment, Sakura released Naruto's collar, as she stood and looked at him with her emotionless face,

_"…It was just a minor mishap, I apologize for my sudden action, all misinterpreted," _she said in a strange tone. She bowed to him, _"Excuse me, Mr. Uzumaki,"_ she said and excused herself to ladies room, everybody else looked surprised of her behavior just now, especially Naruto.

"What just happened?" Kiba asked,

"That's something out of the ordinary," Shikamaru said,

"Is she okay?" Tenten asked,

"I'm gonna check on her," Ino said as she got up and went to the ladies room as well.

Ino enter the restroom as she found Sakura cleaning sauce off her shirt,

"What was that?" Ino asked,

"What's what?" Sakura asked,

"You know what I mean, what just happened back there? One moment you were about to hit Naruto, then at a split second you stopped. I have never seen you do that, not once," Ino explained, Sakura became silent for a moment, then said,

"Honestly, Ino… I don't know what came over me, at first I was angry at him and had the urge to bash him in the face, but…something stopped me and my anger on him suddenly disappeared. As if it was absorbed out of me," she said.

"You… probably think it's ridiculous," she turned to Ino, "…and I'm probably over thinking it a bit," she said, Ino didn't say anything but made an awkward look on her face,

"What?" she asked,

"Forehead, your skin look a tad… pale," Ino said as she observed her, now Sakura made an awkward look on her face, she looked at her skin then looked herself in a mirror, and Ino was right, her skin does look a bit pale, "I haven't noticed this," she said as she look and touch her face.

"Are you not feeling well?" Ino asked,

"I'm fine, just…" Sakura answered,

"Want me to take you home?" Ino offered

"… No, I'll go on my own," Sakura said as she quickly left, Ino followed her.

Sakura and Ino exit the ladies room, as Ino got back to her seat, and Sakura is about to head home,

"Why are you leaving, we're just having a good time," Naruto asked,

"Sorry, something came up and I have to leave," Sakura said to him before she left the table and head to the exit.

Before she did, one of the waiters is carrying a platter of three hot soups, by the time he turned around, he nearly bumped into Sakura as he quickly stopped him, though two of the bowls slipped off the platter and one of them about to land on her, until suddenly…

Time is moving slowly, and Sakura's eyes turned pale once more; she quickly caught the first bowls and the soup with one hand before it landed on her, and the second bowl and soup with the other before it landed on the ground. After she did, time resume to normal along with the change of her eyes, Sakura blinked a few times as she discovered herself holding two bowls of soup, and she has no idea how. Many people saw what she did, and applauding to her,

"That... was amazing, you were able to catch them without spilling a drop," the waiter said as he's most impress of what she did. "I…" Sakura look really confused, "Sakura-chan," she heard Naruto voice, as she turned to him along with her friends, as they're surprised of what she just did. Which caused her face to turn hot pink of embarrassment, so she quickly gave the waiter back the soups, "I should home go—I mean, have to do some… uh, I forget this thing so… later," she stuttered and quickly ran out the restaurant.

Naruto, Sasuke, and the others are dumbfounded to Sakura's display,

"Did you see what she just did, that was so cool the way she caught them in a split second…" Naruto said to his friends as he's amazed of what she did, though Sasuke on the other hand is not too amazed, but rather suspicious of her sudden reflex skills. Then Naruto stopped talking when he felt someone tapping on the shoulder from behind, he turn and saw the same waiter from before,

"Say, do you know is she by any chance seeing anyone?" he asked as he took a sudden interest in his pink-haired teammate, causing Naruto to frown at him.

**Outside…**

Sakura was almost home, but still concerned about what just happen back in the restaurant, she looks at her skin once more as she still pale as before, and still doesn't remember how she caught those two bowls when that waiter dropped them. She slowly noticed that she's been feeling different right after her friends rescued her from Akeeba and his emotionless children from their mission. Her hair grew long from day one, yesterday she couldn't fit into her regular clothes anymore, and now her skin is almost pale as white. And not to mention this, 'Akalra' person she met mentioned that in a few days, they're going to switch; she's still has no idea what she mean by that.

By the time she walked around the corner, she gasped as she spotted someone at her doorstep, a stranger trying to break into her house so she think fast as she grabbed the vase near her, snuck up behind the stranger, and…

**_Break!_**

She whacked him behind the head and caused the vase to break, but not hard know to knock him out as he's still conscious, then she pulled out her kunai knife at him, "Who are you and what are you-?" she didn't finished her sentenced as she got a good look at him as he turned to her,

"Kyro!" she said as she's shocked to see him again, she quickly put her weapon away,

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were a burglar, I didn't mean to-" she said and about to check on him, until something caught her eye. She discovers a bouquet of flowers with a card in it near the doorstep,

"Why are you placing flowers at my doorstep?" she asked, Kyro didn't answer as he saw her pick the flowers and took out the card.

"Another card…" she said, as she opened it and read it as it's another gift from her secret admirer, which made her wonder why Kyro try to leave a bouquet of flowers when nobody was home, unless…

Sakura figured it out and turned back to Kyro, as he still rubbing his head were she whacked his with a vase, "Kyro… are you my secret admirer?" she asked, Kyro made a small chuckled and said with an innocent smile,

"I guess, like the vase, I'm busted."

**Few minutes later, inside her home…**

"How's your head?" Sakura said while sitting on a chair across from Kyro sitting on the couch,

"It's okay, I've been through worse," he answered while holding a bag of ice placed on his head,

"So Kyro… you're my secret admirer, this whole time? Why didn't you tell me?" Sakura asked, Kyro slowly removed the ice bag off his head, and turned at her,

"… I was worried you'll reject me if I told you, or you might think I'm some stalker, which I'm not, so I thought if you go out with me, maybe you might feel the same way," he explained, Sakura didn't say anything as he continues,

"But I guess I was wrong, I apologize for startling you, I won't bother you anymore," he said as he got up and walked out of the living room and exit through the door. Sakura could help but sat quietly, and thought to herself for a moment…

**Outside away from her home…**

Ibate, still disguised as Kyro, is a few blocks away from her home, though he knew she's about to call out to him in…

**_"…3…2…1…" _**Ibate thought,

"Kyro," Sakura called out for him, Kyro stopped and turned to her as she ran up to him,

"I… uh… my mom went somewhere and won't be home around the evening; so maybe… if you're not doing anything, we could… go somewhere, to the park…a restaurant perhaps?" she asked him out, with a small blush on her face. Kyro smiled,

"I like that," he answered, as he and Sakura walked together through the village.

**Between the afternoon to evening at a small restaurant…**

Kyro and Sakura are at their table, looking at the menus for the dinner specials, Sakura looked at Kyro while he's looking at the menu,

**_"I never really thought someone like him would be my secret admirer, and here I am on my second date with him. Maybe I should get to know him first, start a conversation,"_** she thought to herself.

"So… how long have you been?" she asked, Kyro looked at her,

"An Anbu that is," she said,

"About 2 to 3 years, I've been through tough missions you wouldn't believe how dangerous it is," he said,

"How so?" she asked,

"Fighting against S-Rank criminals, rogue ninjas, and ninjas that would either kill, or threaten innocent people; being an Anbu Black Op is one tough position, especially in my age," he stated.

"Surely you accomplished many," Sakura said with a smile,

"I have… though I've rarely been appreciated," Kyro, cause Sakura's smile to disappeared.

"Most of them believe me being an Anbu was a big mistake, they treat me like I'm a nobody, and that all those dangerous missions I've been through were just luck… I sometimes believe them, because I'm the least person everybody needed," he explained,

**_"I know that feeling,"_** Sakura thought. Then the waitress appeared,

"Are you lovely couple ready to order?" she asked them for their order,

"Yes, I'll have the Miso soup, nothing spicy please," Kyro said,

"I'll have the same," Sakura said before the waitress take the menus and walked away.

"You don't like spicy food either?" Sakura asked,

"I use to like them back then, until I drank a whole bottle of hot sauce on a dare," Kyro said,

"You actually drank hot sauce?" she asked,

"Every last drop… until I end up with a stomach-ache for two-weeks, so I stopped eating spicy food," he said.

"That's not good for you," Sakura said,

"I know, I was a little arrogant then, but I was all better thanks to my uncle's homemade soup," Kyro said,

"You have an uncle?" she asked,

"Yes, though he's not, technically, my blood uncle, he's a very close friend of my father, but I considered him an uncle to me," he clarified.

"Oh… well, where is your dad? Is he on a big mission somewhere?" she asked, then she noticed Kyro became quiet for a moment when she asked him that,

"…No he… died, a few weeks after my 8th birthday," he answered while he tilted his head down,

"Oh… I'm so sorry; and your mother…?" she asked, he became silent again and still had his head down.

"… I never knew her, nor met her, all I know that she died from childbirth; in every year on the day of my birth, is also the day of my mother's death," he answered, and Sakura feels sad for him and a little guilty for asking him about his parents.

"My uncle told me I bear a very strong resemblance to her, though I behaved and act more like my father, wanting to become a doctor just like him," he said,

"A doctor, so he's not a shinobi like you?" she asked as she's now confused, he looked at her,

"Oh no-no, not at least, apparently, I'm the only member with a skill of a shinobi," he explained,

"Hn… so you wanted to become a doctor?" she asked.

"More than anything, my father saved many lives and helped sick patients from many villages; he was known as one of the best doctors there this, which inspired me to follow in his foot-steps. Though… people thought of my father as a complete failure and a joke, and that I should let go of my dream of ever becoming a doctor," he said,

"No, don't say that… and you shouldn't listen to what others say about your father, because they don't know him more than you do," she said as she reached and touched his hand.

"I mean… I know how you feel when I felt belittle by everyone, and they saw me as a weakling; but I wanted to change that, and also…I never knew nor met my father. I guess you could say we're, sort of, on the same boat. I'm really sorry for your loss, but don't let something like that or anyone else stop you from chasing your dreams. I see great success in your life," she said. Kyro is touched by her words, as he placed his hand over hers,

"Thank you," he said as they glanced at each other for a moment, until they noticed the waitress returning and they remove their hands from each other,

"Here are your orders," the waitress appeared with their orders.

Ino and Hinata are walking by after they got back from their training with their teammates, as they about to walk past the restaurant, until Ino spotted her pink-haired friend and the guy again,

"Hinata look!" she said as Hinata turned to them,

"There's Sakura with that guy again, and it looks like they're on a date for real," Ino said.

"Come on, let's take a closer look," Ino said, "I-Ino wait," Hinata said but couldn't stop her as she went inside anyway, so she followed her. Ino and Hinata went inside without being seen by them, as they got close enough to hear what they're saying.

"You actually snapped during the middle of class," Kyro said,

"I was so embarrassed, I have no idea what came over me," Sakura said,

"If you think you're embarrassed, you wouldn't believe what happened to me when I was at the Rain village," he said.

"Try me," she dared him,

"No, you'll laugh," he reject,

"No I won't," she said,

"Yes you will," he stated,

"Come on, tell me," she begged.

Moment later, he leaned over and whispered to her ear, she burst into laughter.

"I told you you'll laugh," he said,

"That is hilarious," she said, as she and Kyro laughed to together. Ino and Hinata watched them from behind the curtains, as they're having a good time,

"I'm going in," Ino said,

"I-Ino no," Hinata try to stop her, but failed again as she went over there any way.

"Hey Forehead!" Sakura and Kyro turned and saw Ino appeared,

"Ino! What are you doing here?" Sakura said as she's surprise to see her here,

"With Hinata, we come through this area after we train. I would ask you the same thing, but from the looks of it, I don't have to," she turned to Kyro,

"Hi there," she said,

"Hello," Kyro said,

"I'm sorry about that Kyro, this is my friend Ino Yamanaka; Ino, Kyro Mushori," Sakura introduced them.

"Nice to meet you," Ino stuck her hand out,

"Likewise," he said as he shook her hand,

"Have you, by any chance, owned a Flower shop?" he asked,

"Technically, my mom owns it, but yes," she answered,

"I thought I saw you somewhere, I bought some of your flowers," he said.

"You don't say," she said,

"Of course the other Anbu's made fun of me for it, but hey," Kyro said,

"W-wait, you're an Anbu?" Ino is shocked

"Yes," Kyro answered, Ino gave him a small smile and turned to Sakura,

"Sakura may I have a word with you for a moment," she whispered to her,

"But I'm not finished with my sou—Ah!" Ino grabbed her off the chair,

"Excuse us," Ino said to Kyro, before she dragged Sakura to the ladies room, Hinata followed them.

They made it to the ladies room as there is nobody here but them, "You're dating an Anbu Black Op, what were you thinking?" Ino said as she's a little upset,

"Hey-hey, don't ask me, he's the one who asked me out," Sakura stated,

"Are you… referring about yesterday?" Hinata asked,

"Yesterday, how did-?" Sakura said until Hinata cut her off,

"W-we saw you… at the park with him," she said.

"You did! Ah man," Sakura said, as she now gets why Ino spread the rumors about her with some guy,

"What village is he from? Cause I certainly never seen him before, even though he is a total hottie," Ino asked,

"He's from the Cloud village, I should get back to him," Sakura try to leave until Ino blocked her way,

"Does he have any siblings? A brother? A distant-cousin maybe?" Ino asked,

"He's an only child, excuse me," Sakura try to leave again but Ino blocked her again,

"When did you meet him? Isn't there a rule about a Genin dating an Anbu? Why are you dating him anyway?" Ino asked,

"The day before yesterday, he told me it's not in the rule book, and I accidentally whacked him on the head so this is for making it up for him," Sakura answered.

"Why you whacked him on the head?" Ino asked,

"I mistook him for some crook trying to break into my house, and… I discovered he's my secret admirer when he-" Sakura explained

Ino and Hinata gasped,

"Are you saying he's totally into you?" Ino asked,

"Something like that," Sakura answered and blushed a little, Ino squealed in excitement,

"Kya! Sakura, if everyone knew that you're going out with an Anbu Black Op, you'll become instantly popular," Ino said.

"That never occurred to me," Sakura said,

"Well if something like that happens, I'll bet you'll have massive fan boys knocking at your door," Ino said,

"… Rrright, now I really should get back to Kyro," Sakura said as she finally left the ladies to go back to her day. But within that moment…

**_Lup-Dup!_**

Sakura frosted, as the source she felt from before came again, and this time, it absorbed triple; which is not good for her body to take as…

**_Thud!_**

Her body collapsed on the floor,

"Sakura!" Ino cried as she saw her friend on the floor unconscious, Kyro heard her as he quickly got off the chair and ran up to them. Of course, some people also noticed the collapse as some got off their chairs, and they, along with some staffs, form a small crowd of the scene.

"What happened?" Kyro asked Ino and Hinata,

"S-she fainted, she was fine for a moment until she collapsed," Hinata answered while Ino's checking on Sakura,

"I'll take over from here, you two give her some space," Kyro held Sakura against him, he turned to the crowd,

"Everybody else just stay back, and give her some air," he said, as people backed away while he's checking on her.

Kyro turned back to Sakura, as she's still unconscious, but knows why, **_"The effects absorbed too much of her energy, her body is not fully stabled for anymore of that,"_** Ibate thought, as he gently tilt her head up, searching for the 'mark' behind her neck…

**_"There…"_** he thought as he found it and pressed it,

Sakura gasped for air as her body flinch from the pressure of the 'mark' he pressed.

_"Sakura-chan,"_ she heard of his voice, while slowly gained consciousness,

_"Sakura-chan, can you hear me?"_ his voice became clearer,

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, as she saw… Kyro looking down at her; she gazed at his beautiful sapphire eyes, and her heart start racing.

"Kyro…kun," she whispered,

"Are you hurt?" he asked, she shook her head and he helped her up,

"I'll take you home," he said, she nodded and both started leaving the area.

Little did they know… a beetle was on the wall, as it saw the whole thing, it flew off and out of the restaurant. As it got outside, it landed on its master's index finger, of course it's master is none other than, Shino Aburame; as he sent one of his beetles to spy on Sakura, and the new guy. He listen to his beetle of what it observed back in the restaurant; the identity of the new guy is named Kyro Mushori, an Anbu Black Op from the Cloud village, Sakura went unconscious all of the sudden, and Kyro revived her with no use of medical aid whatsoever. Shino watched them leave the restaurant, while hiding in the ally, he observed Kyro while he's escorting Sakura home, and clarified that he never seen this guy before, from here nor in any other village.

"Hn…" he said, not only is he suspicious on Sakura's behavior, now he's suspicious on Kyro; and wonder why he's still in the village after the mission was over last week.

**Home…**

Kyro walked her back home,

"I wanted to thank you again, for what you did back there," Sakura said,

"The pleasure is all mine, as I said, I wanted to become a doctor," Kyro said,

"Despite what just happen, I had a great time," Sakura said,

"As do I," Kyro said as he and Sakura smiled at the moment. When Sakura is about to head inside,

"Sakura-chan," Kyro said her name, and she turned to him,

"If you're not too busy tomorrow, maybe… we could hangout…? Go out…? Or train together, I can teach you some of my techniques… if you like?" he asked,

She smiled as she walked up and give him a peck on his cheek,

"I very much like that," she answered before she went back inside.

Right after she entered her home… Ibate placed his hand on his cheek where she kissed him,

**_"I'm close to having you very soon,"_** he thought before he disappeared from that area.

**Midnight at the ally…**

A bunch of gangsters hanging around in allies, doing nothing but trouble; then one of them spotted a young girl with crimson hair walking through the alley.

"Look what we have here," one of them said,

"Hello beautiful… you lost?" the other stood in her way,

"You're in my way," the girl said,

"What's your rush little lady, surely you have some time to kill," the man said, as some of the other men started to surround her.

"The last thing I need is being interfere by you humans," she said,

"…I have no idea what you're saying, but I'm afraid we can't let you get through… unless, you pay us a price if you know what I mean," he said,

"I suggest you step aside, and I won't tear you all apart," she warned them. They all laughed,

"That is so cute, trying to be all tough," he said as get close to her,

"How about we make you feel more comfortable," he placed his hand on her shoulder until…

**_Break!_**

"AAHHH!" he cried in pain when the girl twisted and broke apart his right arm with one hand, and her face shows no mercy, or any emotions at all,

"WHAT THE FUC-" he was cut off when…

**_Punch!_**

She punched him hard in the gut, which caused him to fly backwards until he broke through a wall, the other men became stun and then absolute fear when they sense a powerful yet deadly chakra coming from her. The aura of red chakra gathered all over her body, as they all try to stay away her until…

Their bodies became frozen and couldn't move a muscle, "A Paralyze jutsu, but-" one of them said, until the red haired girl approached them,

_**"You've been warned,**"_ she said as her red paled eyes turned paler, and revealed them her fangs, and her energy increased.

"No… please, let us b-" the other begged for mercy but it wasn't enough as she already charged at them and…

"_AAAAAHHHHH!_" a screamed was made throughout the night, but not loud enough wake a single soul.

**To be continued…**

**I am so sorry for the wait, I hope you all forgive me for taking this so long to update, I hope the story makes up for lost time; if so, please review. And to those who may or may not know, I already updated 'Heart of the Cherry Blossom Pt. 2,' just so you know. I'll update another as soon as I can. Later.**


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